


May I Return to the Beginning

by spirithorse



Series: Kingmaker [7]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-09-06 19:30:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20296783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spirithorse/pseuds/spirithorse
Summary: He had died and in a blink of an eye he was back. Out of everyone who had suffered and died because of Rolance and him, he had come back.And he didn’t even know why.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, in 2016 I wrote a fic and some shorts for the universe and I thought it was done. Apparently, I wasn’t. So, here’s another bit of the Kingmaker AU. All of this takes place just around the end of All Glory Ends in Light. Title taken from Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Written for Sormik Week 2019

“Journeys end in lovers meeting.”  
-_Twelfth Night_, Shakespeare

* * *

“Sorey…” Mikleo whispered the name into the space between them.

He wasn’t sure who moved first, but it didn’t matter because they were pulling each other close. Mikleo gasped as his lips met Sorey’s, but then he was swept away by a kiss.

He had to bend slightly to keep their lips together, but he didn’t care. Not when it kept him close to Sorey and not when he could hear Sorey whispering his name and “Beloved” every time they pulled away.

Mikleo chased after Sorey’s lips, rocking them back until he felt Sorey fall backwards.

He yelped as he pitched forward, feeling Sorey’s grip on him tighten just before they hit the ground. Mikleo reached out to brace himself, looking down at where Sorey was splayed out underneath him and laughing. Mikleo found himself smiling too, carefully lowering himself down until he was resting on Sorey with his forearms bracketing Sorey’s head.

Sorey smiled up at him, looping his arm around Mikleo’s so his hand was resting on Mikleo’s forearm. Even there it was restless, his fingers roaming up and down Mikleo’s arm and making him shiver.

He leaned closer until their foreheads were resting together again. Sorey’s smile widened at that, his other hand coming to rest on the small of Mikleo’s back.

It didn’t take more than a soft push to convince him to rest on top of Sorey, Mikleo settling comfortably on top of him.

Sorey seemed pleased with that because he slung his arm over Mikleo’s lower back, holding him there. But Mikleo had no intention of moving. He would be content to lay there forever, because it was everything that he had dreamed of for seven hundred years. But it was here now, real and within reach.

Mikleo laughed, because Sorey was there, alive and smiling just like he had wished for all these years.

And it was perfect.

Was, until Sorey arched up and nipped at his lower lip. Then seven hundred years of waiting and longing came rushing back on him.

He gasped, his fingers curling in Sorey’s hair. He shifted so he could grind down against Sorey, realizing a moment later what he was doing.

Sorey was here, solid and in his arms, but he had just become a seraph, there was no telling what he remembered. It was clear enough that he remembered Mikleo, which was the important thing. He was remembered enough to kiss, but maybe not so far as this. Mikleo had seen plenty of seraphim emerge from the Earthpulse with fractured memories. The gaps had no pattern or reason to them, so it was very likely that Sorey remembered Mikleo and wanting to kiss him. The fact that Mikleo was more than happy to kiss him was fine, but anything else might be too much.

He pulled away, ignoring Sorey’s whine and the answering sound he made. This was important, something that he had to know or it could tear them apart. Mikleo was not going to let that happen.

Mikelo rested a hand on Sorey’s chest, swallowing hard at the lack of heartbeat. It was too much like the day that he had lost him, but Sorey hadn’t been able to look at him then. He had been looking through him while he had been dying, but there was no question that Sorey only had eyes for him.

He swallowed and reached out to cup Sorey’s cheek. Sorey leaned into the touch, his eyes fluttering shut for a moment. When they opened, his pupils were blown, Mikleo shivering as Sorey nuzzled into his wrist, his lips moving against his skin as he spoke. “Why did you stop?”

The words were slightly slurred, like Sorey was having to work to remember how to talk. It sent a flush of pride through Mikleo, but he tried to focus on the task at hand. He wasn’t eighteen anymore, he wouldn’t allow himself to be so easily distracted, or so he hoped.

He swallowed, compromising by leaning forward slightly. “What do you remember/”

Sorey went silent, Mikleo allowing him to keep nuzzling close. Sorey stopped a moment later, his eyes going wide. “Everything. At least up until…”

He dropped his hands from Mikleo’s waist, reaching up to touch his chest. Sorey’s fingers curled there, exploring where he had been stabbed over his clothes. He looked up at Mikleo, reaching up to cup his cheeks. “Oh, beloved. I’m so sorry.”

“Sorey-”

“I was…I just…I didn’t _want_ to leave you.”

Mikleo shivered, reaching up to rest his hands over Sorey’s. “I know. I’ve known. I just…I needed to know.”

That didn’t seem to calm him, Sorey quickly sitting up until their foreheads were touching. Mikleo could feel Sorey shaking with the effort of keeping their position, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of pulling away. Mikleo just clung to him, something in him relaxing even as he held Sorey tight.

“Mikleo…”

“I’m here.” Mikleo shifted, leaning in to kiss him again.

Sorey met him eagerly, Mikleo pushing him back down to stop some of the shaking. He draped himself over Sorey again, relaxing his clinging hold. Sorey didn’t, but Mikleo was willing to let it pass. He liked it, it had been a long time since he’d been held like this.

Mikleo pulled back to nose along Sorey’s jaw, rubbing their scent glands together. “I’m not letting you go again.”

Sorey gasped, Mikleo not sure if it was because of the intimate gesture or because of what he said. Mikleo didn’t think that it mattered, not when Sorey was arching up into him, clutching him close. He thought he heard Sorey gasp his name, Mikleo shuddering at the sound.

He had missed that sound. He had missed everything, the feel of Sorey’s hands sweeping down his sides, holding him in place. The feel of Sorey pressing up against him. The scent of him.

Mikleo buried his face in the junction between Sorey’s neck and shoulder, taking deep breaths as Sorey coaxed his hips into motion. He shuddered, half hearing Sorey make a soothing sound, but it was hard to concentrate.

This is what he had been looking for. It had been these hands, this scent that he had been seeking out in the moments when he had wavered from his own surety in spending his heats alone, or when the longing became too much. But he had never, because it hadn’t felt right, he hadn’t felt ready. He had been afraid of replacing this.

He moaned and gripped at Sorey’s shoulders, grinding down on him before his patience snapped. He shoved himself upright, balancing himself with one hand on Sorey’s chest in a request to stay. Sorey didn’t quite listen, straining up to try and meet him.

When he was frustrated in that, Sorey growled, Mikleo shuddering at the sound. It sent a flush of warmth through him, Mikleo feeling himself getting wet. He whined and rocked back on Sorey, losing himself of the feel of Sorey’s cock so close to where he wanted it before he remembered himself.

It could be better. It could be more than him rocking back on three of his fingers, desperate for something to fill him. It could be more than him curled around the clothing that Sorey had left, even though the scent had been gone for centuries beyond what hanging them in the library could fix.

He swallowed hard, his head dropping back. Mikleo couldn’t stop himself from rocking back, setting up a rhythm that Sorey’s hips eagerly followed. “Sorey…Sorey…”

There was a tug on his jacket, Mikleo rolling his head to the side so he could look at Sorey. Another growl rumbled through him, Mikleo going still. Sorey tugged at his jacket again. “Take it off.”

Mikleo was already shrugging his jacket off, grinning at the loud breath that Sorey took at the sight of his bare arms and shoulders. He tried to keep still as Sorey dragged a hand up his arm and onto his shoulder. He made a punched out sound when his hand slid onto Mikleo’s bare back, Mikleo grinning at him.

He let Sorey explore the space there, Sorey’s hand gentle. The touch was enough to get him shaking, Mikleo sitting under it for a moment longer before twisting so he could get off of Sorey.

Sorey’s hands chased after him, Mikleo pushing them away. He reached down to tug at Sorey’s pants. “Off.”

It took another tug for Sorey to get the message, Mikleo quick to kick his boots away and strip off his pants. He grabbed at the belts around his waist, fumbling with the buckle until he twisted the belts around. He dropped the belts and bag away from him, clawing at the knot that held his feather in place.

It took some tries, Mikleo snarling at it before the knot finally yielded. He was tugging it the rest of the way out when he felt hands on his back.

The string and feather dropped out of his fingers, Mikleo leaning back as Sorey scooted up behind him. He felt Sorey’s hands linger at the tie on the back of his neck, but then Sorey was reaching for his hair.

The feather hair piece was lifted away carefully, Sorey passing it forward was care. Mikleo took it and cradled it on his hands for a moment before leaning forward to set it down on the grass.

He meant to turn and face Sorey, but Sorey was tugging on the leather tie that kept his hair up, tossing it somewhere to the side. His hair fell down to his shoulders, Sorey quick to run his fingers through it.

Mikleo moaned at the scratch of Sorey’s fingers over his scalp, shaking with the touch. It was so gentle, so adoring. It almost shook him apart.

He gasped, leaning back into Sorey only to be caught and cradled back against him. It was strange now with Sorey shorter than him, but that didn’t matter when compared to the reality of Sorey there and his hand slipping under Mikleo’s tunic.

He expected Sorey’s hand to roam, which Mikleo was shaking in want for. He had missed the callouses and the careful care that Sorey would take and the delay that would have him grabbing at Sorey to speed up. He was a seraph, but there were times when he was not willing to give into that kind of worship.

Thankfully, Sorey seemed to understand.

Mikleo tensed as he felt Sorey’s fingers start to drop down to his waist, clutching at Sorey’s arms as they moved to his entrance. He heard Sorey’s breath stutter as they slid in his slick, Mikleo moaning as Sorey moved away to run his fingers along the inside of Mikleo’s thighs. At eighteen, he would have been embarrassed by how wet his was and how close he was to begging for it. Now, he was just impatient.

He reached down to grab Sorey’s wrist, pulling it away from him before redirecting it back down. “Don’t tease.”

“I didn’t mean to. I just…” Sorey’s breath hitched as he pushed a finger in, Mikleo whining and bearing down on it. He heard Sorey swallow hard, Mikleo turning his head to watch Sorey’s face. He was practically frowning in concentration, Mikleo shivering as Sorey slipped in another finger and started to stretch him in earnest.

Mikleo rocked on them, his eyes falling shut. It was nothing like his own fingers, he couldn’t predict the way Sorey would move, all he could do was give himself over. Having his eyes closed just heightened the experience, because then he could concentrate on the motion of Sorey’s fingers inside of him.

“Mikleo.” The sound of Sorey’s voice make him gasp, Mikleo turning his head towards the sound. He thought he heard Sorey make a soothing noise just before Sorey wrapped an arm around his chest to hold him tight. Mikleo pressed against the arm for a moment before slumping back, happy to be held in place.

He heard Sorey take a sharp breath, his fingers twisting deliciously. “Mikleo, I want to be inside you.”

“_Yes_.”

Mikleo heard Sorey curse under his breath and move forward to nose as his jaw. Mikleo bared his neck willingly, anticipating the bite. Before his neck would have been covered with bruises and claim marks, but now it was bare. He ached for that again, to show everyone that he was claimed again.

He rocked down on Sorey’s fingers as he felt a teasing series of nips over his shoulder, to lost in the anticipation to notice anything until Sorey stopped and pulled back. Mikleo whined, reaching back to tug Sorey close to his neck again. “Mark me, please.”

Sorey stayed where he was held, Mikleo hearing him take a deep breath before he spoke. “Mikleo…I think you’re…”

Mikleo growled in frustration, too far gone to really make sense of what Sorey was saying. Sorey was here, finally here, and he had been stoking the warm curl of heat in Mikleo’s stomach until he had grown to consume him. All he wanted was Sorey, Sorey held close, Sorey deep inside him. Sorey’s knot.

He twisted, rolling them both over so Sorey was on his back. Mikleo practically purred at the sight of him, naked and sprawled out on the grass. Sorey blinked up at him, his eyes wide, but he didn’t try to get up or stop him when Mikleo swung his leg over and straddled him. Mikleo shifted back, hesitating when Sorey reached up for his arm.

Sorey’s fingers brushed over his arm but quickly dropped down to tug on the end of his shirt. Sorey played with the end before smoothing it over Mikleo’s leg, his hand traveling down to rest on Mikleo’s knee. Mikleo watched him, trying to quiet the wail in him at the thought of stopping now that he was so close. He was so empty he ached, but he was more than the voracious hunger that gnawed at him. Mikleo swallowed, reaching down to rest his hand over Sorey’s. “Do you want this?”

Sorey sighed, going plaint on the ground. A smile was quick to cross his face. “I do. I just…” His gaze dragged down to Mikleo’s stomach, his smile fading into a frown. He reached up to slide a hand up under Mikleo’s shirt to rest on his stomach.

Sorey pressed his hand there for a moment before looking up at him. He took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Do you?”

Mikleo blinked at him, trying to work out when he had seemed reluctant but he couldn’t remember. It was hard to think beyond the drive to get Sorey in him as soon as possible. He shifted in place, trying to gather himself together enough to answer when he could feel Sorey’s cock so close to where he wanted it. He swallowed hard before giving up and settling for a nod.

Sorey watched him for what felt like too long before dropping his hand away from Mikleo’s stomach. It fell back on Mikleo’s thigh, giving it an encouraging squeeze.

Mikleo didn’t need anything more. He rose up on his knees just enough to guide Sorey into place before sinking down in one fluid movement.

Distantly, he heard Sorey gasp, but he didn’t pay attention to it. It was nothing compared to the pleasant burn of being full. Mikleo rumbled deep in his chest, grinding down just to linger over the feeling of being full for a moment longer. But it didn’t sate him for long.

Mikleo licked his lips, shifting so he could brace himself with one hand on Sorey’s chest. He felt Sorey’s hands move up to his hips, gently guiding him through pulling up. It was slow and gentle, and nothing that he wanting.

Sorey was there, something he’d never thought the he’d have again. Taking his time would make sense, but maybe later, maybe when he had finished sating his hunger for all of Sorey.

He dropped his head forward, barely waiting until Sorey’s cock was fully out of him before slamming his hips back down.

Mikleo grinned when he heard Sorey curse, raising his head just enough to see Sorey’s face. Sorey’s head was thrown back as he bit his lip, his whole body tensing as his hips bucked him. Mikleo moaned, rocking it place as he waited for Sorey to look at him.

It took a while, almost long enough for Mikleo to lose his patience and ride Sorey until he was sated. But he needed this, needed to see that it was Sorey. He might lose himself in the heat and pleasure of being filled, but he wanted to know that it was Sorey, that he wasn’t fooling himself into believing it.

Sorey took a deep breath as he looked back towards him, his pupils blown. He reached up to grab the hand that Mikleo had planted on his chest, giving it a squeeze before smiling.

That was all that Mikleo needed. He shifted slightly before starting his driving pace, riding Sorey as fast as he could rise up and down. Each time he sunk down sent a shiver of pleasure down his spine, Mikleo not bothering to hide his moans. Some of them he meant to be Sorey’s name, but the sounds were all jumbled together until they were wordless. It didn’t matter, because Sorey was there meeting him for every thrust and grounding him with the hold on his hand.

Even better were the desperate sounds that Sorey was making, moans and mangled versions of his name that made him feel proud. He might be on the edge of losing control but Sorey was right there with him.

Sorey was _there_.

Mikleo shifted, rocking back slightly so he could aim Sorey better, get him deeper. He felt Sorey’s fingers curl, pressing against his hip hard enough to leave bruises, but that was more than fine. Mikleo wanted it all.

He whimpered when the hand on his hip moved, Mikleo shifting to rise without the support only to pitch forward when it wrapped around his cock. The stimulation made him shake, Mikleo grinding desperately on Sorey’s cock. “Oh, that’s…I’m…”

“Want me to pull out?”

Mikleo clenched down around him, leaning close to practically growl. “Don’t you dare.”

A smile flitted across Sorey’s face, staying there as he stroked Mikleo.

It was like seven hundred years hadn’t passed at all. Sorey knew just how to stroke him, just the right pressure, where to twist his wrist to send shivers up Mikleo’s spine.

He was distantly aware of chanting Sorey’s name, his voice breaking on the syllables as pressure built and then came crashing down.

Mikleo shook through his orgasm, Sorey drawing it out with every pump of his hand. Just when it was one the edge of too much, Sorey moved his hand away, Mikleo shuddering when he felt Sorey grab onto his hip again and begin thrusting up. He whimpered at the roughness, clawing at Sorey. He heard him hiss, Sorey slowing to a grind that had Mikleo shaking again.

It only lasted for a moment before Sorey was gripping his hip tight enough to bruise and gasping his name like a prayer. Mikleo whimpered, clenching down around him when he felt the knot swell and tie him in place.

He wobbled in place for a moment before slumping forward, panting heavily for breath. A glance up at Sorey showed that he was in no better shape.

Mikleo shifted, cautiously leaning forward until he was resting on top of Sorey. He sucked in a quick breath when he felt the knot tug at his rim, not ready to give up the tie. He breathed a sigh of relief when it held, Mikleo turning his attention to rubbing his cheek against Sorey’s shoulder. He heard Sorey huff, Mikleo returning with a hum as Sorey’s hand swept down his back. He sighed, letting himself go limp as he enjoyed the rare feeling of being filed and Sorey holding him tight.

* * *

Sorey came back to himself in degrees, more than happy to let the haze of orgasm fade away slowly. Mikleo wasn’t going anywhere, which was all for the better. If Mikleo’s scent was right, then they would be there for a long while. The seraph had the distinct smell of the early stages of heat.

He reached up to card his fingers through Mikleo’s hair, smiling at the exhausted sound that Mikleo made. He tipped his head to rest his cheek on the top of Mikleo’s hair. Mikleo just sighed, trying to burrow closer to him. It was impossible considering their position, and Sorey almost wished that he had pushed for a better one. Almost.

He combed out Mikleo’s hair to the end, twisting it to see the purple fading into blue at the tips. Sorey wasn’t sure if it was just him or if there was more to the ombre of color. Sorey played with the end for a bit before letting it drop, staring at the hair that was scattered messily over Mikleo’s bare shoulders. It was a rare sight, considering that Mikleo had kept his hair tied up while they had been on the run. It had been more practical just to keep it that way. Except that Sorey was sure that Mikleo’s hair was longer than before. He splayed his hand over Mikleo’s shoulder to try and measure it, but he wasn’t sure of his memory.

Mikleo had asked before, and the answer had seemed so simple. He remembered Mikleo. He remembered his plans and dreams to help a broken world. He remembered the desperation, his failure and their flight. The memory of his last moments and the fact that he had been dead hadn’t crossed his mind until then.

When he had first come to be it had felt like waking up. He didn’t remember getting to the top of the mountain, all he remembered was staring at the grave and wondering why he was there. There had been a moment when he had thought that it had been Mikleo’s, but that had been quickly put out of his mind. Now he found himself wondering again.

Mikleo’s hair was longer, and he was taller. Beyond that there was something different about him. Mikleo didn’t look like he wanted to crawl out of his skin or a moment away from snapping. Mikleo was relaxed, comfortable and confident. He wasn’t hiding behind layers or shying away, nor did he look as haunted. Sorey was almost sorry that he missed the change, except that it was such a stark change.

He licked his lips, dropping his hand to the small of Mikleo’s back. Then again, he had been dead, and that opened up horrible possibilities. He turned his head, looking back at the cairn that they were still in front of. It looked like all of the others, although none of them had sent a shiver down his spine.

Heats didn’t happen when omegas were pregnant, and Mikleo was obviously not. The didn’t happen the first years that the child was alive either. Sorey had never learned the limit because he had been among the Platinum Knights. If any of them got pregnant, it was because they were leaving the service.

Sorey shifted his arm on Mikleo’s back, trying to settle himself. Mikleo had never said that he wanted the baby, he had been wavering to the last. Obviously, he had made up his mind.

Sorey closed his eyes. It was Mikleo’s choice, it had always been Mikleo’s choice. That didn’t stop him from feeling sad about it or about the fact that he hadn’t been there for support. Either way, that made the cairn make sense and the lack of malevolence around Mikleo.

That didn’t mean that he didn’t want to know for sure.

He lifted his hand back to the ends of Mikleo’s hair, petting it as he thought. Mikleo had never been happy about the topic of the baby, so it might be best to ease into it.

Sorey nuzzled into Mikleo’s hair. “I’m sorry. I was a bit rough.”

“No.” The word dragged, sounding like it took effort. Mikleo shifted against him like he was going to move, but seemed to decide against it because he slumped back down again. “It was perfect. It’s been a while.”

“I guess.” Sorey swallowed, thinking of their last night together, of the two of them pressed as close as the baby had allowed them as he had thrust up into Mikleo. He felt himself twitch at the thought, Mikleo grinding back down on him with purr.

Sorey closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he tightened his hold on Mikleo. “How long is a while?”

Mikleo jerked in his arms, Sorey tempted to hold on, but he let Mikleo go. The most he did was support him at the hip as Mikleo stared down at him in shock. Sorey could feel the tremors that went through him, Mikleo opening and shutting his mouth for a moment before he managed to speak. “You…you said you remembered!”

“I do.” Sorey propped himself up on his elbows, looking up at Mikleo. “I remember everything, up until the moment I died.”

Mikleo shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself and looking away. Sorey let him keep his silence, careful to break it with a gentle touch to Mikleo leg. That didn’t coax more than a sigh at first, Mikleo looking down at his hand before reaching down to touch it. “That was one of the worst days of my life.”

“I’m sorry.”

Mikleo shook his head. “They told me, Rose and the others. It took a few years, but the told me about the end. They said you weren’t yourself…and I knew that you had been dying. What we planned wouldn’t have happened. I know that now.”

“Mikleo…” Sorey shifted to push up towards him when a tug on the back of his head made him stop. He hissed in pain and reached back, but Mikleo was there first.

The seraph leaned forward to gently pull a long braid of hair out from under Sorey. Sorey could only stare in shock.

He last remembered his hair being short, trimmed in the imitation of the Platinum Knights. Sorey had never even thought about growing his hair out.

Sorey shifted, reaching out to touch where the brown faded to blond, Sorey quickly pulling his fingers back. His hair didn’t do that, not even in the summers. He curled his fingers towards his palm, looking helplessly back at Mikleo.

Mikleo smiled back at him before leaning over, bracketing Sorey’s head between his arms. Mikleo hesitated there for a moment before shifting up to kiss Sorey’s forehead. “It’s been seven hundred years.”

Sorey went to jerk away when he remembered that he was still knotted in Mikleo. He swallowed hard, shaking as he tried to keep in place. He was sure Mikleo saw his shock because the seraph was quick to grab his hand.

Sorey squeezed Mikleo’s hand, looking up at him as everything fell into place in a horrible sort of logic. The lack of baby made sense, he had missed that entirely. Mikleo’s whole change made sense, because he’d had seven hundred years to deal with all of it. But it had been a day for him, maybe hours. He had died and in a blink of an eye he was back. Out of everyone who had suffered and died because of Rolance and him, _he_ had come back.

And he didn’t even know why.

Sorey jumped when he felt Mikleo shake him, looking up at Mikleo in shock. Mikleo reached up to cup his cheek. “Sorey?”

He swallowed, reaching up to hold Mikleo’s hand to ground himself. “T-that long?”

Mikleo nodded. “I don’t know why. I don’t know how these things work or why some people take so long, and I honestly don’t care You came back.” His voice shook over the words, Sorey reaching out to touch him. Mikleo leaned into the touch, his eyes fluttering closed for a moment before he took a deep breath. “I didn’t expect this, Sorey. I _dreamed_, but that’s not the same. It’s never…it’s never a surety, this. But I’m so glad…”

Sorey made a soothing sound, running his hands through Mikleo’s hair. “I’m here.” He swallowed, frozen on the words that he knew should follow. He had said them before and meant every word, but then he had gone back on his word. He had never meant to, not until that last moment. He hadn’t been human in the end, and he couldn’t have lived with that. He couldn’t make others live with that.

Sorey swallowed hard, curling his fingers into Mikleo’s hair. “I’m here. And I don’t want to leave.”

“You won’t. I won’t let any of that happen again. It’s different now.” Mikleo chuckled, leaning forward until their foreheads were touching. “We did it. We messed it up so many times and nearly lost it, but we did it. I can’t wait to show you all of it.”

Sorey nodded, shock keeping him silent. He had known that Sergei and Alisha would manage to take what he had left and fix it, but knowing and seeing were two separate things. He had been trying to recreate a world that he had only read about, something that even the Celestial Record said was far in the past. Maybe he had been too arrogant or naïve to believe that it could happen, but he wanted to see. Even if what had come out of it wasn’t exactly what the Celestial Record had described, it had to be better what there had been.

“I want that. I want to see it with you.” Sorey smiled, shifting so he could rub his nose against Mikleo’s. “I promised you at least eighty years.”

“Yes, but I’ll want more.”

“Have it. I’m yours.”

He felt Mikleo start, the seraph tensing for a moment before he rumbled out something like a purr. He rubbed his cheek against Sorey. “Mine.”

Sorey chuckled, stroking his hands through Mikleo’s hair. He basked in the contentment, the knot of worry in his chest starting to come undone, but not all the way. He turned his face into Mikleo’s hair, trying not to look back at the cairn behind him. The shape of the seraph was harder to ignore. That it had been seven hundred years helped, but not completely.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Even then, he had to work to get the question out. “And the ba-bun?”

He caught himself at the last minute, Sorey going still as he waited for Mikleo to respond. Seven hundred years might have been enough to ease what Mikleo had felt for it, but Sorey didn’t know.

For a moment, Mikleo didn’t react, and Sorey couldn’t tell if it was because he was content or if he was trying to avoid the question. Then Mikleo shifted slightly, going back to bracing himself over Sorey. Sorey breathed a sigh of relief at Mikleo’s smile.

“Selene will be overjoyed to meet you.”

“Selene?”

Mikleo blushed, suddenly ducking his head so his fair obscured his face. Sorey tipped his head, trying to see under Mikleo’s curtain of hair, but the seraph just kept ducking his head. “I…I named her Selene. I didn’t know anyone else connected to you and I thought that it would be better if…It just that’s all I had left of you.”

“Selene is fine.” Sorey felt joy bubbling in his stomach, reaching up to brush Mikleo’s hair aside.

Mikleo glanced his way, a nervous smile crossing his face. “I’m glad. She’ll be so excited to meet you.”

“You told her about me?”

“Of course.” Mikleo sounded a bit offended, but the smile didn’t leave his face. “Why wouldn’t I? You are my everything.”

Sorey stared at him for a moment before reaching up to tug him down in a tight hug. He heard Mikleo yelp, but he didn’t dare let go. He needed this, even if it hadn’t been seven hundred years for him, he had missed this. He took a deep breath of Mikleo’s scent, feeling like he had finally come home.


	2. Chapter 2

“The end anticipated  
Has not been consummated  
But god has found a way  
For what no man expected”   
– _The Bacchae_, Euripedes

* * *

Selene paced the floor, neatly avoiding the chairs that were laid out. She barely glanced at the seraphim around her, they were all in their little knots talking to themselves. She could hear snippets as she passed, and it was mostly about what to do next. They had one Shepherd able to purify malevolence, one Shepherd who might not be able to walk again and they were lacking one Great Lord.

Two Great Lords.

She threw a glance at the door, playing with her bracelet. Mikleo was usually prompt, especially to something that had been his idea. He had been the one to say that all of the seraphim needed to gather to discuss the problem. After all, it was a pretty pressing problem.

Without Maotelus no one knew if new Shepherd could be appointed. The power of purification had come through him. Without it, they were back to the old ways of doing things, which was just killing hellions.

Selene shuddered, curling her fingers around her wrist. To do that would burn out Shepherds even faster than they did now. There was only so much pain and agony a human could take before they thought about retiring, and Selene didn’t blame them. The life of a Shepherd was a hard one, no matter how much help they got. She expected Shepherd Laurent to only manage a few more years before going back to his home and the husband that waited for him there. If not that, then eventually he wouldn’t be able to do the hard work of purifying, and then they would be in trouble.

The fact that her Shepherd was still alive wasn’t much better. Ingrid was just barely hanging on, and it was only because Blejan was with her that she was still alive.

Selene squeezed her wrist, holding it tight before letting it go. She wanted to be back with Ingrid, to do something other than stand here, but she was needed here to at least see what would happen. In the end, she would have to go back and spread the news. Selene just hoped it would be good. Ingrid was the type of human that would haul herself up from her sick bed for her duty. Selene wasn’t sure she would be able to follow Ingrid as the woman limped her way across Glenwood.

She bit her lip, turning around and almost running into Lailah. She reached out to grab onto Lailah’s shoulders to prevent them from toppling. “Lailah!”

“Selene, I’m sorry.” Lailah took a step back, giving them both the space to recover. “I’ve been running around since the first seraphim showed up.”

Selene watched her fiddle with her hands, like she was searching for one of her papers. Lailah seemed to realize it at the same moment because she clasped her hands and took a deep breath. “I think they’re all here.”

Selene looked around the room, panic setting in when she didn’t see the one face that she was looking for. “Mikleo isn’t here yet.”

“I know. The others won’t stop talking about it.” Lailah looked over her shoulder. “I think Eleanor, Pawan and Wardell might be enough, but everyone would feel better…”

Selene nodded. Everyone was shaken, but they would have to work with what they had. The fact that her father hadn’t shown up was more worrying than the lack of the four remaining Great Lords.

“Maybe he got caught up in something.”

Lailah hummed distractedly, not sounding sure. Selene winced, tugging at her bracelet again. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but they really couldn’t wait much longer. It was bad enough that there had been a Lord of Calamity that had gotten so far, but they couldn’t dissolve into fear. Rolance and Hyland were waiting for their Shepherds to tell them what would happen next, and they couldn’t just stumble through that. The initial panic had been bad enough, Selene could just imagine what would happen if they announced that Maotelus was dead and they only had one Shepherd left.

She ducked her head as Lailah squeezed her shoulder, the seraph moving to the front of the room where the three Great Lords were waiting. Selene turned to watch her go before turning on her heel and heading to where a cluster of chairs were set up.

She scanned the waiting seraphim, easily finding Tejal. The wind seraph was shifting in her seat, barely looking at Selene as she came over. She kept jerking her head up with every breeze, like it would bring her more news. Selene wasn’t sure what Tejal was expecting Blejan was a fire seraph, she couldn’t send a message through the wind. That didn’t stop her from sitting down and grabbing Tejal’s hand. The two of them held onto each other, Selene feeling Tejal shake.

She swallowed, patting their jointed hands. “You didn’t have to come.”

“No.” Tejal’s voice was a soft whisper. “Waiting without a word would be worse. I want to hear what they say.”

Selene nodded, squeezing her Sub Lord’s hand. As much as they didn’t want to leave Ingrid, this was important too. Selene didn’t think that she would have been able to wait either. As it was, she was barely holding on.

She bit her lip, trying to calculate the journey from Camlann down to this side of Ladylake. The weather had been good so, unless Mikleo had stopped for the nights, it might take him five days on foot, four if he pushed it. With that calculation, even with any delays, he would have been there before her. There might have been a meeting among the Great Lords but, if so, why wasn’t he there with them. There was every chance that he could have been held up, But if that had happened, why hadn’t he sent ahead? There was bound to be a wind seraph or someone who could deliver the message.

Selene looked over the Great Lords, watching as they arranged themselves at the front of the room. They talked among themselves for a moment before Wardell motioned. All of the seraphim twisted to watch as Shepherd Laurent shuffled to the front, Zavied by his side.

The two of them made it up to the chairs before the Shepherd turned and waved sharply back towards where he had been sitting. It took a moment before his Squire slunk out, the young boy looking both intimidated and bored. Selene watched him pass, feeling that the boy was more likely to stab something than talk calmly, but they were all handling stress differently. Shepherd Laurent might have escaped the Lord of Calamity, but Eizen nearly hadn’t.

Selene shivered and clutched at Tejal’s hand harder as the Squire finally took his seat. Wardell smiled at the Squire before turning to look back at the rest of them, spreading his hands. “Seraphim, thank you for coming out in such great numbers and over such a great distance. By now the news has spread, the Lord of Calamity is dead, as are two Shepherds, Eulalia and Harper. As is Lord Maotelus.”

Selene ducked her head with the rest of the seraphim, feeling Tejal shake harder. She just leaned into the wind seraph, taking solace in her presence.

They all sat in silence for a moment before a seraph on the side of the room spoke up. “Where is Lord Mikleo?”

Selene looked up, glancing back at the fire seraph before looking up at the other Great Lords. Pawan looked nervous and Eleanor had her lips pressed together tightly. Wardell seemed equally as thrown, the seraph hesitating for a while before looking around the room.

“It…it appears that he is not here.”

It didn’t take long for the other seraphim to catch on the hesitation and panic.

“Then where is he?”

“Is there news of him?”

“Is he searching out a solution to this?”

“Is he dead?”

Selene almost shot to her feet at the last question, but Tejal yanked her down. Selene looked over at her, surprised when the wind seraph shook her head.

She took a deep breath before resettling herself. Tejal was right, if her father was dead she would know. Or she hoped she would know.

Selene slumped in her seat, carefully not making eye contact with the other Great Lords. She didn’t have the answers that they would want, so it was probably better to be a bit invisible, at least until they started asking the inevitable questions.

They needed to know if they could still purify, and she was a Prime Lord. Shepherd Laurent could do it, but Ingrid hadn’t been able to try. Selene had no idea if Lailah had tried to find another Shepherd, or else there would be no way to test her, but she doubted that Lailah would rush that much, especially when her Shepherd was so recently dead. Selene was tempted to crane her head and look for Gani, but she didn’t know if the seraph would be there. Selene actually wasn’t sure if asking him would be a good idea. From what she heard, Gani was ready to give up his position of Prime Lord, the death of the Shepherd had hit him so hard.

“Please! Please!”

Wardell was shouting over the seraphim, which seemed to be enough to work them into more of a fervor. Wardell turned to look back at the others, Selene seeing Eleanor stand up, a sure sign that things were going to be brought sharply back into control. She sighed, settling herself in for a drawn-out conference when something made her startle to her feet.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lailah and Zaveid do the same, but her attention was on what had caused the feeling. It had been like a spark, almost like it had felt when Maotelus had granted her the power of purification. But that had come with something more of Maotelus, something more jovial and younger compared to the other Great Lords, even her father. This was something completely different, something that confused her. It felt like Maotelus’ power, but nothing else of him.

Selene looked over at Lailah, catching the look of confusion on her face as she did the same.

Zaveid was not as subtle, his pendulum already loose and swinging in his hand. “What the _fuck_?”

Lailah reached over to slap him, freezing when Mikleo stepped into the room.

Selene was running for him before he got far into the room, flinging herself at him. “Dad!”

Mikleo caught her, wheezing a bit when she squeezed him tight, but Selene didn’t let up. He had shown up late and frightened her, so he deserved to be squished a bit. Besides, it didn’t take long before Mikleo was hugging her tight.

“Hello, bun.”

Selene narrowed her eyes, shifting so she could knock her shoulder into his, just enough to get him to stumble a bit. “Just hello?” She pulled away a bit. “Nothing else? No explanation? No word about why you’re so late?”

“Selene-”

“We’re all on edge and you decided that _today_ is the day to give up your exacting punctuality?”

Mikleo winced, finally looking slightly ashamed. “It isn’t completely like that.”

“Then what?”

Mikleo shifted in place, looking for all the world like a scolded child. It was something that she had only seen her aunts reduce him to. It was strange and heady to be able to do the same, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that he had worried them all, and it was not the time.

Selene dared a quick glance at where the other Great Lords were staring at the two of them. She nodded at them before leaning in. “Did you find something? Is that why you’re late?”

“In a way?”

“Is that what we felt?”

Mikleo stared at her. “What do you mean?”

“Before you came in there was this…” Selene waved her hands, looking over at Lailah and Zaveid for help.

Thankfully, Lailah was quick to nod. “It felt like a pact, or that’s what it reminded me of.”

Zaveid was nodding along, Selene watching the two of them before looking back at Mikleo. Her father was frowning, his arms crossed over his chest. He rocked back slightly, Selene recognizing it him thinking hard, although she wished that he would share. Three Prime Lords and no other seraphim had sensed something similar to a pact, that had to mean something. That they had one Shepherd still functional had to meant that there was some kind of power of purification left to them.

She reached out for him, touching his elbow before giving him a small shake. “Dad, even if it’s a slim chance. It’s something. We should explore it before-”

Selene cut herself off at Lailah gasped. She turned to look at her, watching as Lailah retreated with both hands covering her mouth. Zaveid tensed as well, his pendulums swinging free. Selene turned back around, her breath catching in her throat as she saw who was slipping into the room.

She knew that face, she had seen it in the grand portrait in the palace in Pendrago as well as the forgotten portrait in the back corridor. She knew it because the majority of it was familiar. She saw it every time she looked in the mirror.

Selene took a step back, watching as the seraphim moved properly into the room. He shot the rest of the room a brief glance before focusing on her again, Selene not sure how to take the way his expression softened.

It was stranger still to watch him walk up to Mikleo and rest a hand on Mikleo’s arm. If it had been anyone else outside of their small circle, Mikleo would have shrugged them off, but instead Mikleo leaned into the touch, all of the tension leaking out of him. Mikleo even went as far as tipping his head to the side, a sign of trust and surrender.

Selene felt her stomach roll, not sure if it was the sight of her father acting so differently than she knew him, or the realization of just who this was.

But it couldn’t be. Shepherds came back as seraphim, and he had never been one.

The seraph leaned into Mikleo, his hand seeking out her father’s. “Mikleo, is that…”

Selene looked over at her father, not sure what she wanted him to say. Denying it would do nothing because she had seen him and seen the way that Mikleo acted around him.

Mikleo met her gaze for a long moment, Selene sure that he was asking something of her, but she wasn’t sure what to say. This wasn’t her choice, not really.

He must have seen something because he reached down for the seraph’s arm, holding it tightly. “Sorey, this is Selene. Selene, this is your father.”

Selene jerked back in shock, staring at the seraph. Some part of her had known from the moment that he had walked into the door, they were too alike to ignore that. But that didn’t stop the churning in her stomach, Selene not sure if it was excitement or fear.

She had wanted to meet her father after Mikleo had told her the truth, but only in the abstract. She wasn’t a child anymore, she knew the way of the world and there had never seemed to be any chance that Sorey would come back, But there he was, and it was frightening. She couldn’t imagine how it could happen, unless it was some kind of hellion trying to trick them, although she’d never heard of a hellion that could do it. Or maybe it was another Lord of Calamity. But to be any of that, he would have had to fool Mikleo, and Selene didn’t think that it was possible.

She swayed in place, looking over at Mikleo, hoping that he would say something else, but he was just watching her. Selene swallowed at the hopefully look on his face. He probably expected more, especially after asking about her father all her life. But she couldn’t think of anything to say, because it seemed too impossible.

She knew the silence had gone on for too long the moment, Mikleo’s expression started to waver. He reached out for her again, Selene crushing the urge to back away. This was one more mystery than she wanted to deal with. What to do about Maotelus was more than enough. If anything, she wanted to ignore this until they were somewhere private, until she could come to terms with this all by herself. But she didn’t have the time for that and, even with her confusion, she didn’t want to let this go. This was important, for Mikleo and for her.

Selene took a deep breath, her eyes widening as the scent from Mikleo. She was used to her father’s scent, to the point where she ignored it most of the time. But, sometimes, it was insistent enough for her to pay attention.

It was a radical change, the usual scent of rain and wet earth shifted slightly, Selene fighting the urge to wrinkle her nose at the milky tone to it. What was more important was the scent that overlaid it, an unfamiliar scent of old books.

Selene stared at Mikleo before looking back over at Sorey. She could smell the same scent on him, Selene just barely tapping down the growl that rose in the back of her throat. It wasn’t her job to protect Mikleo, at least not like that. But there was a certain helplessness that came with being confronted with another alpha’s scent all over someone that was her only family. Although, that wasn’t true anymore.

She cleared her throat, trying to hide the sound of the growl in it. Selene stepped forward until she was standing in front of Sorey. She was struck again by how alike they looked, some of her wariness leaving.

Mikleo was a powerful seraph, far more powerful than her and more experienced in defending himself. More than that, he was like those romantic characters in the stories that she would read, whether he intended to be or not. Selene had known that there would be no replacing Sorey, even before she had really known who Sorey was. More than anything else, she could trust Mikleo not to have been tricked.

She inched forward a little more, fighting to keep from ducking her head. “I…”

Whatever she meant to say died before she could get it out, because she didn’t know what to say. She had come up with many things to say over the years. Things to say to the emperor that she thought had tormented Mikleo and killed his soldier. Things to say to the soldier who had saved Mikleo from the horrors of the empire. Things to say to Sorey when she had learned the truth. And none of them would come out right.

Selene looked down at Sorey offered a hand, glancing back up quickly. It was her choice to reach out, although the hope in his eyes was heartbreaking. He would let her walk away, and that hurt more than anything. She had imagined this so many ways, of Sorey showing back up looking just like his portraits, of sweeping them back up and taking them somewhere. That had been the dream of a small child. Selene didn’t know what she wanted now, but she knew it wasn’t this and everything the space between them implied.

She ignored Sorey’s hand, finally getting herself to move despite her surprise.

Selene threw her arms around Sorey as a hug, feeling him stumble back. She blushed as soon as he came to a stop, realizing what she had done. It was something that she had dreamed of as a child, but maybe it wasn’t the best thing to do when they were first introduced, but she wasn’t about to take it back.

Slowly, cautiously, she felt Sorey’s arms wrap around her. They were gentle at first, but then they were holding her tight. Selene found herself smiling, but she pressed her face against Sorey’s shoulder.

Sorey hugged her back just as tight, Selene feeling his cheek come to rest against the top of her head. She heard a boot scuff across the ground, and then Mikleo had a hand on her shoulder. Selene turned her head just enough to see him, smiling at her father.

Mikleo patted her back for a moment before leaning over to whisper something to Sorey. Selene couldn’t quite catch it, but it was enough to spark a laugh. Selene lifted her head at the laugh, finding herself smiling at the sound before a shock went through her.

Selene jumped back slightly. It felt like she had grabbed onto a lightning seraph’s hand on a winter day, although that was only superficially. She flexed her fingers, glancing down at them when she felt the same zing.

She sucked in a deep breath when she saw the silver flames that were licking at her fingers and running up her arms. Selene raised them to look at them, her eyes wide as they flickered and started to fade. Selene shook her arms to get rid of the lingering feeling of power, even as she felt it settle into her, like a renewal.

“Selene!” She looked at Sorey as he reached for her arm, touching it briefly before jerking his hand away. “Are you ok? Did I hurt you?”

“No.” She shook her head, turning her arms over to stare at them. Now that she was no longer distracted by who he was, she could see just what kind of seraph he was. She had felt in the moment he had come into the room. It had been in the burst of power that all of the Prime Lords had felt.

Selene looked back at Mikleo and Sorey, watching the dawning realization on the former’s and the confusion on the latter’s faces. Selene twisted around to look at where Lailah and Zaveid were standing, the two of them looking with twin expressions of shock. All Selene could think was that it made sense. 

Maotelus was gone and Sorey was back.

She swallowed, reaching out to grab onto Mikleo’s arm, holding it tightly as she felt him shake “I think you might have just solved our problem.”

For a long while, Mikleo didn’t respond. And, when he did, it was so quiet that she would have missed it if she had been anywhere but pressed against Mikleo. A soft, and desperate, “No.”


	3. Chapter 3

“There is a stillness, in the midst of which Richmond, with her ruins, her spectral roofs…and her unchanging spires, rests beneath a ghastly, fistful glare…We are under the shadow of ruins. From the pavements where we walk…stretches a vista of devastation…”  
-Reporter from the _New York World_

* * *

Light streamed in from the grand entrance to the ruin, illuminating the carvings on the walls. The ones the closest to the entrance had lost their paint, but Sorey could see flashes of color on the ones further back. He tipped his head back to look at some of the bird motifs along the top of the wall, smiling at the clever clumps of feathers between each bird before the pattern repeated. It was beautiful, and eye catching.

Sorey stepped closer to the writing that was along the wall. It was easier to read further in where the wind hadn’t gotten to it, and it made him feel better about the yawning void on the other side of him.

Sorey glanced over his shoulder, swallowing and edging closer to the wall. He pressed his palm against the wall, sidling until he was safely under the overhang. He wasn’t human anymore, but he didn’t know how far his powers as a seraph would go. The most he could do was the silver flame, and that was barely in any kind of control. He gave his hands a worried glance. He hadn’t seen the flames of purification hurt anything, but the thought that it might curled his stomach. Besides, he still remembered how Mikleo had reacted to it.

He squeezed his eyes shut, taking deep breaths. He didn’t want to do that, to inflict that pain. Sorey was sure that he had done enough of that already.

He opened on eyes as he heard someone picking their way towards him. Sorey smiled when he saw Selene standing on the walkway, seemingly oblivious to the sheer drop down the side of the mountain.

She tipped her head to the side, the move so like Mikleo it made him ache with the fondness. “No head for heights.”

“It’s not that.” Sorey pushed away from the wall, glancing down at the path. It looked solid enough, or at least without cracks that he could see. Sorey stepped forward cautiously, testing his weight as he moved along. “I climbed this mountain to get to Mikleo the first time.”

He looked up in time to see Selene shake her head. “Climbing the mountain is different than being here. You’re on the edge of the world here.”

Sorey turned to look down. There wasn’t much to see before the mist and the clouds got into the way. Sorey was sure that it would be an inspiring view of the valley that Camlann and Kyfle-on-the-Mountain was in. He might have been able to see Artorious’ Throne clearly, a through that made him shiver.

He rubbed absently as his chest, finally looking away from the clouds. He hadn’t been back to Artorious’ Throne since had had returned, and he had no plans to. He felt like it would be too much, too many memories that he wanted as dead as he had been.

“When I lived here, Dad used to bring me up here all the time.” Sorey turned to look at Selene, watching as she turned and walked back to the dais and mural further back. “I was one of the first places we explored. We try to come up here every time I can come home.”

“You must know this place better than anyone.”

“Almost.” Selene paused, staring back at the mural. Sorey edged along the walkway to stand behind her. He smiled when he saw Mikleo sitting on the dais, sketching the mural that stretched above him. Every once and a while he would look up at the mural and frown, Sorey seeing his lips move as he muttered something to himself.

Selene shifted, Sorey looking over at her as her shoulders twitched. He tipped his head to the side, surprised when she turned back around to look at him. There was a faint smile on her face, but the usual uneasiness was there, like she didn’t know how to approach him.

She held his gaze for a moment before reaching up to touch the wall, her fingers light against the undecorated stone. “Dad says this is old, far older than he is. He says it was built around Destiny Dawn, but I’m sure it’s closer to the Temperance of Avarost. What do you think?”

Sorey turned to look back at the carvings, intending to study them to find out only to come up blank. He stared at the carvings, tracing their patterns down the rows with his stomach curling.

He had known this once. He had spent hours among his books blithely ignoring everything that was going on in the palace. Maybe that had been what Nadia had wanted, to keep him ignorant and out of the way of the horrible things that were happening. 

It had worked for a while, to the point where it had worked as the excuse that got him out of Pendrago when he finally looked up and realized that the world was falling apart around him. And he had decided to do something. After all, he was no threat, he was just interested in old things. If he had hung around villages, it was because he was looking for falling down buildings, not trying to ferment rebellion or help villagers regardless of what side they had fallen on. He had left his history books behind then, and he had never looked at them again.

Sorey tipped his head back, staring at the ornate floral that had been carved between the ceiling and the wall, but his mind wasn’t on it. It was on wondering what had happened to his old books.

They had probably gone into a Pendrago library somewhere. After all, he had been a forgotten prince. No one knew what he had been before he had entered the wars of succession. That was for the best, it meant that they hadn’t been destroyed after he was gone.

He licked his lip, jerking his attention back to the wall, trying to remember anything that could help him. But it was like looking at a language that he didn’t recognize. Even the ancient tongue was piecemeal in his mind.

Sorey sighed, shaking his head. “I…I don’t know.”

Selene sighed. “Yeah, it’s a tough one. Dad swears that he has word of mouth evidence for him being right, but Aunt Melody and Natalie won’t corroborate.”

“They would know best.”

Something in his tone must have caught her attention, because Selene turned her head to look at him. He heard her make a sound, like the start of a word before she quickly corrected herself. “Sorey?”

Sorey shook his head. “I don’t remember much about this anymore.”

“Oh.”

There was nothing to say in the face of that, Sorey turning and making his way over towards the dais. He could feel Selene’s gaze on his back as he went, Sorey almost glad that she didn’t come after him. For one, these walkways weren’t meant for running along, for another, he didn’t know what to tell her. He didn’t know what Mikleo had told her.

He climbed up the three steps to the dais, looking over at Mikleo before waling over to where a sword had been left. Sorey crouched down to look at it, glancing up at the headless statue. The hand looked like it had crumbled away, which explained where the sword had come from. The statues was more protected under the overhang, but time had won out.

Sorey dropped his gaze back to the sword, tracing the odd, waving pattern of the blade.

“It’s a Shepherd’s sword.” Sorey looked over his shoulder at the sound of Mikleo’s voice. The seraph smiled at him, but he didn’t look away from his drawing. “They were never sharp because they were meant for purifying.”

Sorey tipped his head to the side, testing the thickness of the blade before shaking his head. “And bludgeoning.”

Mikleo shrugged. “It would stop a hellion, right?”

Sorey turned to look at Mikleo, his fingers curling around the blade. “One of the smaller ones maybe. I’m not sure about a drake.”

“I’m sure I would have been deterred with a hard smack. Hunger loses its edge when there’s pain involved.”

Sorey stared down at the sword, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t have done that to you.”

“I know.” Mikleo turned to smile at him. “You’ve never hurt me.”

Sorey swallowed, not trusting himself to respond, especially when it wasn’t true. He dropped his gaze back to the sword, tracing the designs. Half of them were so faded that he didn’t know where they would have gone, but he kept tracing out the designs of swirls and circles. It felt right, although that might have just been the design that he had in his own mind. The repetitive motion of it all was calming, although it didn’t stop the swirl of thoughts.

He had wanted to do this with Mikleo before everything had fallen apart. He wanted to show the seraph who had been stuck on a distant mountain the world he had seen. It had only been a small portion of it, but it had been worth seeing. He hadn’t succeeded in that either.

Sorey closed his hand around the blade again, staring down at the artifact without really seeing it. He felt like all of this was not real. Ever since he had been told that he was a Great Lord, the possessor of the flames of purification. Sorey stared at his hand, half expecting the flames to flare up and consume them all, but there was nothing. Sorey wasn’t sure if he was glad of it or not. He had no control of his power, he knew that.

He let up his hold on the sword, his hand quickly jerking towards the hilt when he heard someone coming.

Sorey turned his head, his eyes widening when he saw Selene walking past. With the way her eyes widened, she had seen what his reaction had been.

He swallowed, trying to come up with an explanation. It was habit, something long established form a life on the run. She had startled him. He would have never, he would have stopped himself before he had done anything.

Sorey remained tense as Selene came around to the other side of the dais. She tipped her head to the side, holding his gaze for a moment before dropping her gaze to the sword. Sorey felt like he was holding his breath, waiting for Selene to comment on it.

Instead, she moved closer to stare at the sword. Sorey swallowed, fighting the urge to tell her to back away before he did something regrettable. He had no control over his powers, and he was still half stuck in the past, it was a bad combination.

Sorey met her gaze as Selene glanced at him, not sure if he half imagined the nod that was given to him before Selene turned her attention back to the sword.

She whistled, her fingers tracing the pattern on the blade. “This is way better than some of the one’s you’ve found.”

Mikleo stopped drawing, turning to look at Selene with a raised eyebrow. She giggled and moved away to look at the statue. Sorey settled for looking between the two of them, finally settling on Selene as she started to circle the statue.

Selene frowned and leaned to look at something on the statue. It only held her attention for a moment before she was looking back their direction. “Dad only found hilts and fragments so far. That’s the first whole one from here. Where did you find it?”

Mikleo sighed and gestured towards the front of the dais. “Down there, practically down that hole that leads to…the statue room?”

Selene leaned out before shrugging. “I think. I’d need the map.”

Sorey perked up at that, twisting to look at Mikleo. “You’ve mapped it?”

“Badly.” Mikleo made a face before setting his journal aside. “It’s piecemeal and needs to be put together.”

“Like all the other artifacts.”

“There’s a system.” Mikleo shifted in place, rubbing a hand over his face before sighing. “It needs updating. I’ve let it go recently.”

There was a pause where Mikleo’s gaze flicking away, Sorey grabbing at the blade again. It was part of the seven hundred years that he had missed, but he at least could guess at this. The Lord of Calamity, the horrors that he couldn’t quite prevent in his own time.

He leaned towards Mikleo before pausing, his gaze flicking over to Selene. She was looking back at the statue, dropping down into a crouch to study what was there. She didn’t really react aside from rolling her eyes. “That and the library.” 

Her gaze slid over to him, Sorey not sure how to take the thoughtful look that crossed her face. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t know how to deal with the back and forth between the two of them. Sometimes, it felt like he got it, but other times it was like he slipped between and was left drifting along behind.

Selene looked him up and down before standing up. “You have help though. So, you don’t have to wait for me to come back.”

Mikleo drummed his fingers against his leg, Sorey not sure what that meant. He knew what Mikelo would have done, but all of those tells were impatience and anger. It was what he had mostly directed to people. The rest had been behind closed doors. That Mikleo was very protective, his clothing almost armor. He was more open now, and Sorey found himself lost trying to figure out the body language. He watched Mikleo shift, only belatedly realizing that Mikleo was trying to come up with something to say, and then feeling foolish for it.

He supposed that he was still easy to read, nothing had changed. But he was still looking for the angry and hurt seraph of seven hundred years ago. And Mikleo deserved better than that.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he missed Mikleo scooting closer. It was only when Mikleo bumped up against him that he turned, Sorey surprised to see Mikleo so close. Mikleo seemed just as taken aback, but Mikleo recovered better.

Mikleo leaned in, brushing their shoulders together again. “I could use the help.”

Sorey flicked his gaze up to the mural, surprised at the longing that he felt. He was supposed to be a Great Lord, there were duties that he would eventually have to shoulder. To do that, he needed to be able to control what he had. But he couldn’t refuse this, nor could he refuse Mikleo.

He offered Mikleo a smile, concerned when Mikleo didn’t immediately return the smile. Instead, he sighed and leaned into Sorey, Sorey shifting to take his share of the weight. He looked down at Mikleo’s head on his shoulder, surprised by the longing his felt. 

He had what he wanted, he was free of the empire and sitting in ruins that he would have read about in the _Celestial Record_. Mikleo was by his side and Selene was there.

He looked over at Selene, watching as she smiled fondly at the two of them before she turned back to the statue. Apparently that was all she needed to be at ease, and Sorey felt a brief flash of envy before it leaked away. It was hard to keep a hold of it when some small part of him whispered that he should be content. It was listening to that voice that was the hard part.

Sorey sighed and let his head rest against Mikleo’s, giving into the longing no matter how guilty he felt about it. It wasn’t like he could move, not with the way that Mikleo’s fingers were twining with his. Moving would mean disrupting Mikleo and more explanations than Sorey wanted to give.

He slid his fingers more firmly against Mikleo’s holding to him tightly as he looked up at the grand mural of the Shepherd in all of their glory.


	4. Chapter 4

“Pride makes the tyrant – pride of wealth  
And power, too great for wisdom and restraint;  
For Pride will climb the topmost height;  
Then is the man cast down  
To uttermost destruction.  
There he finds no escape, no resource.”  
– _Oedipus the King_, Sophocles

* * *

Sorey frowned, trying to concentrate on something, anything. He had been told that Maotelus had powers that stretched into the Earthpulse, but that had been the most he had gotten from the seraphim at the meeting. Most of them had been too in awe of him to say anything. So, he was left wishing that he had gotten a message or something, anything from Maotelus before being brought back to life.

Or maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t come back at all.

Sorey opened his eyes, breathing out slowly. That wasn’t true, not at all. It was just some black desperation talking, and the weight of what had been put on his shoulders again. He had died an emperor and come back into nearly the same position. The seraphim were counting on him again, and he had more to lose this time around.

He took a deep breath, curling his hands on his pants before carefully breathing out. He tried to settle into some kind of mediation, anything to reach out.

Sorey had found that it was easier to get to his powers when he was relaxed. Any other time it was flitting just out of reach and surging forward when he didn’t want it to. He bit his lip, trying to sense the power that ran beneath the surface of the earth.

According to Mikleo, there was a point where the Earthpulse came close to the surface nearby, which should have made his task easier. Sorey could sense it in the distance, a spill of _something_. He reached out for it, feeling his fingers twitch like he wanted to grab onto it himself, but it was further away from where he was sitting. Somewhere buried in the depths of Artorius’ Throne. It would take some searching to find it, but Sorey didn’t feel up to it. It was just a distraction after all, one of many.

He frowned, trying to ignore the flashes of brilliance that marked the seraphim. There were so many of them, which made him both proud and frightened. So many seraphim had survived the horrors of the long war, but now they all depended on him. But it was still hard to drag his gaze away from them.

When he had been human the seraphim had felt different. He’d been around Mikleo the most, so he knew him well. The air was always slightly humid around Mikleo, like the water was flocking to him. Sorey had gotten bits and pieces from Rose’s seraphim, but they’d been using their artes at the time, so he didn’t know how far he could trust that.

Now he couldn’t feel any of that at all. Now it was like he was sensing their power directly instead of how it was directed at their element. He could feel Selene’s power, a feeling like looking at good, dark earth and knowing if he dug his fingers into it, it would go from dry to moist.

Sorey shook out his fingers at the thought, like the earth was clinging to him. He didn’t linger over the feeling of his daughter somewhere close for long before his attention was yanked to the village just down the road, Sorey overwhelmed by the rush of seraphim there. They flashed around him, warmth like a summer’s day, mud, a winter breeze, rain falling, deep underground, a fire out of control. It was wonderful and too much.

He tried to jerk away only to stumble into something else. Something wider than him and far deeper, it threatened to pull him down, reminding Sorey of the slow leaking of his consciousness when he was dying.

Sorey panicked, trying to pull back even as some part of him urged him on. He got the feeling of seraphim, first a handful, and then _all_ of them. It was so fast it made his head pound, and it took him a moment to realize what had happened.

He had managed to stumble his way into the Earthpulse, although he didn’t feel in control of it at all. It felt like he was barely hanging onto his connection and on the edge of being sucked back in. Sorey sucked in a deep breath, trying to hold himself steady and he tried to figure out how to use the thing that was his domain.

It only lasted a moment before he longer before he lost his hold and he was tumbling out, Sorey coming back to himself with a jolt.

He opened his eyes, taking deep breaths and staring at the garden around him without really seeing it. If that was the Earthpulse, then he was in trouble. He was in trouble anyway considering that he couldn’t even manage to handle his artes. He didn’t even know where to start.

Sorey sighed, running his hands through his hair. When he dropped them back onto his lap he saw the flicker of silver flame. It was small, just barely enough for him to notice, but it was something.

He focused on them for a moment, trying to get himself to focus despite his exhaustion. Sorey cursed when the flames guttered, struggling to hold on for a moment before the flames flared up.

Sorey jerked his face away, staring at them before trying to coax them down. The flames didn’t listen at first, Sorey leaning back as the raced up his arms.

The flames slowed at his shoulders, remaining there for a moment before finally stopping. Sorey stared at them breathlessly before turning his will to getting them go back down.

They hesitated for a moment before listening, Sorey breathing easier the smaller the flames got. The inched back down his arm until he was cupping them in both hands.

Sorey stared at the silver flames, in awe of them. Now that they were there, it seemed so simple, but he couldn’t figure out how to get them to appear when he needed them. Maybe it was tied to presence of malevolence or with his emotions. Either option didn’t sit well with him, he wanted to be able to do this on command in case the worst happened. After all, the seraphim had just struggled against a Lord of Calamity. When another one appeared Sorey wanted to be ready. He didn’t want to be unprepared and then end up like Maotelus. He had a feeling that he had been a lucky substitute, and that they wouldn’t have that luck again.

He closed his fingers slightly, halfway expecting the flames to gutter out, but they stayed steady. Sorey smiled ruefully to himself. He had managed one thing, he could at least keep the flames up once he managed to get them to appear. That had to be worth something.

Sorey relaxed his fingers, so caught up in the flames that he didn’t notice someone approaching until they crouched down beside him. Sorey turned his head, tensing when he saw Mikleo there.

The seraph smiled, reaching out for Sorey’s hands before he stopped himself. Instead, he let his hands hover a short distance away like he was feeling the warmth that wasn’t there. Sorey curled his fingers around the flames, nervous when Mikleo wasn’t deterred by that, He shifting in place, watching as Mikleo smiled at the silver flames.

“You did it.”

Sorey blushed under the praised before closing his fingers more over the flames. “It wasn’t on purpose.”

“But it’s progress.” Mikleo leaned in to brush a kiss against Sorey’s temple, and Sorey leaned into it. He sighed at the touch, relaxing a fraction.

It was always easier when Mikleo was around, he didn’t feel like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Mikleo was there to help brace him up.

He wanted to lean into Mikleo, but the tingle of the flames in his palms was enough to stop him. Sorey held himself tense, taking a deep breath.

He had seen Mikleo purified once, and the screaming that had followed. Mikleo wasn’t malevolent anymore, but that didn’t stop his worry. He had no control over the flames. If anything, they seemed to be just content to stay in his cupped hands. But it wasn’t just about Mikleo.

This close he could smell the slightly milky tone to his scent, a softening to the wet earth and rain that meant that Mikleo was pregnant and he shook at the thought. Sorey belatedly remembered to close his hands over the flames before they flared up again. He could feel them reaching even in the cage of his fingers, but he couldn’t let them get to Mikleo.

Mikleo had told him once, two weeks ago, seven hundred years ago, what purification would do to him while pregnant. A baby was something foreign, something not quite enough like him to let it pass safely. And it would be all his fault.

Sorey was distantly aware of his hands shaking, but his attention was on Mikleo and the way that the seraph was leaning towards him. Sorey glanced over him, the intent look on Mikleo’s face enough for Sorey to close his hands entirely on the flames. 

They didn’t snuff out entirely, Sorey feeling a tingle as they tried to leak out. He hunched over his hands, turning his back to Mikleo as he breathlessly trying to will the flames away. They sparked up, almost in reprimand before dying away. Sorey felt their lack, a panicked though entering his head that he had lost it all, and that he would be snatched away, but then it was back.

He took a few deep breaths before looking back over his shoulder at Mikleo. He flinched away from the outreached hand, still feeling the power thrumming through his veins. “No.”

“Does it hurt?”

Sorey was surprised at the question, enough for him to turn and look at Mikleo. He stared at the seraph, his shock enough for Mikleo to touch him and the artes in his body to sing.

He must have looked confused because Mikleo scooted close, tucking up against him. Mikleo rubbed his cheek against Sorey’s with a long sigh. “I remember attempting to learn my arts. I froze my foot once.” Mikleo chuckled. “But most of the time it was rough. Don’t forget to pace yourself.”

Sorey stared down at Mikleo, shock making the words slip out. “Pace myself?”

“Yes.” Mikleo stroked his arm. “It won’t come in a day or two weeks. It’s experimentation, I guess, considering there’s no one else.” Mikleo seemed not to notice his wince , because he nuzzled back in. “Selene and I could work with you. I don’t know that it will help, but we might be able to find something out.”

“How long will that take?”

Mikleo shrugged, but it was not an answer that Sorey was willing to take. He had an eternity of a seraph stretching before him, and it was too long.

He stared down at Mikleo’s head before pushing away. Sorey ignored the soft sound of surprise, preferring to stumble to his feet and pace. It didn’t help much, because he could feel the eternity of a seraph stretching before him, and the press of now.

Sorey ran a hand through his hair, looking around. Things felt alright here, right now. But there was no telling elsewhere. If he let himself slip sideways or twisted his mind the right way then he could see spots or feel the pockets of something. Sorey could only assume that they were malevolence, and they would grow. He remembered all too clearly what it had felt like to live in a world drowning in malevolence and he wouldn’t let it happen again.

“Sorey?”

He shook his head, pivoting to look at Mikleo. “I don’t have the time.”

Mikleo stared at him, his hand reaching out before dropping. “I…I don’t understand.”

“There’s isn’t time for me to learn at my own pace. I’m needed _now_.” Sorey waved with his hand, not sure what he was gesturing to, but it didn’t matter. “You said yourself a Lord of Calamity had just been defeated, and there was that meeting where everyone was trying to figure out how to go on.”

“We figured that out.”

“Yes, but not of it will work if the answer doesn’t work. If _I_ can’t use this then we’re all in trouble.”

“Sorey, we have the Shepeherds.”

“What if it happens again? What if the same things happens and they die because I’m not good enough? That can’t happen.”

“It won’t.”

Sorey shook his head, hearing the words but not the meaning. “This whole thing could fall apart, and it can’t. We worked to hard to get to this point for it to fall apart.”

Mikleo huffed, carefully getting to his feet. “The Shepherds have things under control.”

“There’s only two.”

“There can be more. _You_ can make more.”

“Don’t you understand?! I _can’t_.” The word felt like it was being torn out of him, Sorey flexing his fingers. For a moment, he was of the earth, of all of the continent, and then he was jerked back to where he was and the loss roared through him.

Sorey turned, burying his hands in his hair as he turned to start pacing again. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself even as he felt the power flood back through him. Sorey bit his lip, trying to hold, but he felt something slip and twist and the flames were back.

Sorey stumbled back, shaking his arms in an attempt to get them away, but they kept going. Sorey stared at the flames before holding his arm out, but he was careful to keep it away from Mikleo. “Look at this. This isn’t in control. But it’s all I can do. How can I protect all of you like this?”

“You don’t.”

“You’re right.” Sorey cradled his arm against his chest, staring at the silver light. He almost wished that it was warm, because they he would at least feel something other than the power behind it. As it was, it felt like it was building up with nowhere to go. He clutched his arm closer. “I don’t, not like this, which is why I need to figure this out.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Mikleo took a step forward. “You don’t have to do this.”

Sorey looked up at Mikleo in incomprehension, realization dawning when Mikleo gestured at the flames. Sorey looked down at them, curling his hands into fists. “You want me to…stop?”

“What I want is for you to slow down.” Mikleo turned slightly back towards the house. “Selene’s Shepherd will recover and she’ll go off again. She’s waited to meet you for centuries. Spend time with her, with us.”

“Haven’t you been listening to me? We don’t have the time.”

“We have plenty of it.”

“Mikleo, _listen_.”

“I am, but if you would just-”

Sorey made a wordless sound of protest when Mikleo stepped closer, edging backwards even as the seraph came forward. “Mikleo, no.”

“This isn’t the same as before.”

“Mikleo, please.”

“We’re not the same.”

“Mikleo, stay back, before I hurt you.”

Mikleo froze, staring at him with wide eyes. Sorey was just glad that he had stopped, it meant that he was out of danger, unless he was doing it on purpose. He glanced at Mikleo’s stomach, remembering how he had flinched away before, when he had been carrying Selene. It hadn’t happened yet, but Mikleo kept coming over when he saw the silver flame, and he knew what it could do.

Sorey swallowed, wrapping his arms around himself. “Do…do you even want them?”

Mikleo tipped his head to the side, Sorey relieved when Mikleo’s gaze fell to his own stomach before he sighed. “Sorey.”

“It’s a simple question.”

“It’s not a simple answer.”

“Why isn’t it?”

“Because it’s seven hundred years!” Mikleo snapped the words out, Sorey almost relieved with the anger in Mikleo’s voice. That was familiar, something of the Mikleo he had known. And it was a horrible part of him that preferred it because it was familiar.

He curled into himself, watching as Mikleo glared at him. If it had been the Mikleo he had known, there would have been more snapping, not a softening. And Sorey felt bad for finding himself preferring the one that he had known.

Mikleo stayed quiet for a moment longer before meeting Sorey’s gaze. “It’s seven hundred years, Sorey. And I wasn’t careful.”

“Then you don’t-”

Mikleo shook his head. “It’s not that. I wasn’t careful, but I don’t care. Sometimes I dreamed that things were different and we had more than just Selene, but there were just dreams and future plans. But I’m tired of both of those. I just want now and I want this.”

Sorey stared at him, trying to make sense of it all, but it was just a muddle in his head.

He must have been silent for too long because Mikleo took a step forward. “I’m not about to live with hopes and dreams when you are here.”

“And that’s why?”

“Yes.” Mikelo hesitated for a moment before running a hand over his face. “Because I still want what you promised, just the two of us and all the ruins in the world.”

“I never promised family.”

“No, but you never said anything about not having one.”

“Because I couldn’t!” Sorey could feel himself starting to shake again, no matter how tightly he held himself. He swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice down. “You hated the…” He stumbled over the word for a moment before banishing it with a shake of his head. “We couldn’t talk about it. And I couldn’t think about it. I was just…making promises.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you let me!”

“Because I needed it. You needed it. We needed to keep going or we both would have died.”

“They didn’t seem to matter in the end. I still died.”

“They mattered to me. They kept me going.”

Sorey stared at Mikleo, trying to see through the cracks in his façade like he had before. Except they weren’t there. Sorey wasn’t sure if they had shifted or had healed over. It was just another thing that he didn’t know.

He clutched at his arms, looking anywhere but Mikleo.

“There are more people willing to support you this time. There’s no need to carry all the burden on your own.”

Sorey shook his head. “Who else can?”

“The Shepherds. That’s what they’re there for.”

“I told you, I _can’t_.” Sorey took another step back. “All I can do is this. I can’t purify anything, I can’t make Shepherds and I don’t have seven hundred years to figure it out.”

“It won’t take that long.”

“How do you know?”

Mikleo hesitated for a moment before stepping forward again. “Because I know you.”

“That’s not helpful.” Sorey ran a hand through his hair, pausing with his fingers still buried in the long mess. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“If it didn’t mean anything we wouldn’t be here. Everything would have gone differently and I would have ended up a dragon, or stuck in a weapon.” Mikleo gave him a level look, that as much as the calm recitation enough to send shivers down his spine. Sorey looked away, preferring to stare at the flames than see the expression on Mikleo’s face.

“Instead, you were the only one who did something. You stood against your own family, your councilors, your nation. You kept pushing and caring when no one else did. That’s why I’m sure it won’t take seven hundred years.”

“You can’t call that a victory.”

“Sorey Vass!”

Sorey flinched at his name, turning to look at Mikleo with wide eyes.

The seraph was glaring at him, Sorey surprised at the imperiousness there. Mikleo lifted his chin slightly, taking another step forward.

Sorey watched him in awe, only belatedly realizing that the flames still flickered along his arms. He pressed his hands against him, panic rising when they didn’t go away.

“Mikleo.”

“I know you probably thought of victory as a celebration or maybe your death. I don’t know, we didn’t talk back then. But you _will not_ convince yourself that all you did was for nothing. We _won_ Sorey. They weapons were broken. All of them.”

“Mikleo, please.”

“Rolance and Hyland came to peace talks.”

“Mikleo, the flames...”

“Rose and Boris were able to go out and cut down the malevolence and train new Shepherds. It took generations but everyone was willing.”

“Mikleo, I-”

“It wasn’t a single victory celebration, but thousands. Thousands of small ones that meant more than any huge victory. And you did it.”

Sorey stumbled back, as Mikleo kept coming on. “Mikleo, I don’t want to hurt you!”

That finally got Mikleo to stop, the seraph swaying in place. Sorey breathed out a sigh of relief, It didn’t last long before a look of determination crossed Mikleo’s face and he started moving forward.

Surprise kept Sorey in place, Sorey just shaking his head. “No.”

“You won’t.” Mikleo stopped in front of him, too close. Mikleo shifted in place there, Sorey watching him take a deep breath before he reached out. Sorey could only whimper out something that might had been a warming before Mikleo’s hand was hovering over his arm. Mikleo met his gaze, holding it as he lowered his hand. “You won’t.”

Sorey shook his head, not sure what he was trying to do. All he could do was watch as Mikleo’s hand fell towards his arm.

He could feel the flames, the tingle, the potential. He felt it more keenly now, the flames and the thunder of the Earthpulse like a heartbeat in his chest and into his ears. It consumed him like the pulse of every seraph on the earth. That had frightened him once, but it was nothing to the fear he had watching Mikleo reach out for him.

Sorey took a deep breath, trying to put the flames out, to command them to leave. And then Mikleo’s hand was on his arm, and nothing was happening.

Sorey stared down at the hand on his arm, distantly aware of how heavily he was breathing. But that was nothing, not when he was staring at his arm and where Mikleo’s hand was resting on it, unharmed. The silver flames were gone now, Sorey not even sure where. Sometimes, he thought he could feel something like a curl of the power, but then it was gone as mysteriously as it always was.

He licked his lips and dragged his gaze up to Mikleo, surprised to see Mikleo smiling at him.

Mikleo squeezed his arm before taking a step forward to rest their foreheads together. “See? You’d never hurt me.”

“How can you be sure? I put you through all the madness of the empire. I made you malevolent again. I broke all my promises to you. I _died_.”

Mikleo took a deep breath, Sorey watching as he shook with it. Mikleo was slow to nod. “Yes. Yes, you did, but you would have. You only promised me eighty years.”

“It’s all I had.”

“It’s all I wanted, but it would have happened. But I don’t know if I would have gotten this.” Mikleo squeezed his arm. “And I’m not willing to argue. I have seven hundred years of what ifs and I am done with them. You are here now, and you are the Sorey that I knew and loved. Not the prince and certainly not the emperor.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I might be one of the few that do.” Mikleo wrapped his arms around Sorey, drawing them close. “I see you, Sorey Vass. And I love you for it.”

Sorey shook, reaching out to clutch at Mikleo. The hold must have been too tight to be comfortable, but Mikleo didn’t say anything. He just held Sorey tighter. Sorey nuzzled into him, enjoying the novelty of being about to tuck his head under Mikleo’s chin, feeling safe and protected. There was no more running, no more praying for a miracle to get through the day, no more immediate danger. There was just this.

He curled his fingers into Mikleo’s jacket, taking a deep breath of rain and wet earth. It was comforting, the closest thing he had to home anymore. Even if he hadn’t burned his bridges back when he was human, seven hundred years was too long. Everyone he had known and loved was gone. All he had was this.

He must have said the last part aloud because he felt Mikleo tense. Then a hand was smoothing down his back. “You’re not alone. You don’t have to be anymore.”

Sorey sighed, shaking his head. “I had you before.”

“You have the other seraphim and Shepherds now. You don’t have to carry this alone. I won’t let you.”

Sorey was surprised at the vehemence in Mikleo’s voice, but it was something that he didn’t think he could challenge, not when he could feel the roil in the calm river that was Mikleo’s power. With that, Sorey didn’t doubt that Mikleo would do just that, but that didn’t stop him from patting Mikleo’s back. It was meant to soothe Mikleo, but Sorey was sure that it helped him more. He could feel Mikleo’s body under his hand, the usual chill settling him.

He took a deep breath, feeling the distant thrum of the Earthpulse. “I’m not…I’m not sure what I am anymore.”

“That’s fine.” Mikleo pressed a kiss to his hair. “You’ll find it again. I’ll help with that too.”

Sorey pressed his face against Mikleo’s collarbone, feeling himself shake as he clutched Mikleo tightly. “Thank you.”


	5. Chapter 5

“You cannot think of the wonderful secrets which it contains.”  
-_The Hound of the Baskervilles_, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

* * *

Selene rested her chin on her knees, watching her parents. Mikleo was sitting on the ground, spinning a sphere of water between his hands. Selene watched its path, momentarily distracted by it. She remembered Mikleo doing the same for her when she was younger, sending the sphere dancing above her head and rainbows dancing everywhere. He had done the same with bubbles, but those she had chased. Selene smiled at the thought, watching as the sphere shuddered before some of the water sloughed off.

She lifted her chin off her leg, watching as Mikleo moved his hand underneath to catch the water. It pooled there for a moment before leaking out his fingers. She saw his shoulders slump before he flicked the water off of his fingers. The sphere was just as quickly banished, Mikleo leaning back on his hands with a groan.

Selene gave her father a protective look over, eyeing the growing bump of his stomach. She wasn’t surprised that Mikleo’s artes were starting to fail, but she couldn’t help but worry. She reached for her pocket, patting at the letter that had been brought up from Kyfle-on-the-Mountain. A wind seraph there had gotten it from Tejal, a note passing along how Ingrid was doing. It was heartening news, the news that Selene had been waiting for.

Ingrid was up and about, maybe not ready for full on Shepherd’s work, but healthy enough for a Squire. A Squire would be helpful considering that there were only two Shepherds. Selene was sure that Shepherd Laurent’s Squire would be the first ready, which meant that Lailah would take charge of him. Afterward, she didn’t know what would happen. Three Shepherds was still too small for the whole of Glenwood, but it was a start, and they had Sorey.

She looked back over at her other father, watching as he went through sword forms with careful exactness. She was struck by his skill with the sword, even if it was the dull Shepherd sword that he had brought back from the Mount Mabinogio ruins. Every once and a while, she could see him start to move faster like he was about to rush, but then the silver flames that wreathed the sword would start to flicker and go out, and then he would slow down again.

Selene watched him go through another form, shifting to let her legs stretch out straight in front of her. She didn’t know why she was surprised at Sorey’s skill. Mikleo had told her most of her life that her father had been a soldier, so it made sense that he knew how to used a sword. Sergei and Boris’ stories had had him fighting even before he became emperor, but in little skirmishes for the safety of villagers throughout Rolance. 

She had seen the Platinum Knights training before. One of her first Shepherds as a Sub Lord had been an ex-Platinum Knight, and she was familiar with them. What Sorey was doing looked similar to that, although some of it wasn’t nearly as formalized. Then again, that might be the difference between the Platinum Knights that were used to war and the Platinum Knights that were used to peace.

She was jerked from the thoughts as the flames flickered out, Sorey bending over to pant for breath. Mikleo was immediately on his feet, although the action was less fluid that normal. He walked over to Sorey, rubbing his hand over Sorey’s back. The two of them had a quiet conversation, lost in their own little world.

Selene tipped her head to the side, smiling to herself. It wasn’t like what she had imagined when she had thought of her fathers together. They were far more loving than she had thought. Then again, that could have been the seven hundred years. She hummed to herself before pushing herself off of the porch. She had only a few days left of her idle with her parents before her Shepherd came, and she was not about to spend them just watching.

She ambled over to them, watching as Sorey straightened up and pushed his bangs out of his face. His gaze flicked over to her before he broke out in a grin.

Mikleo turned then, her father giving her a tired smile before patting Sorey’s back once more. “Talk to him, bun. He’s not listening to me.”

Selene raised an eyebrow, before looking over at Sorey in time to get a sheepish grin. Selene raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “I don’t know what I can do if he’s not listening to you.”

“Then take him out to the town. I know for a fact he hasn’t been there.”

“Because you insisting on dragging us both to organize your library.”

“Because that’s what you’re here for.” Mikleo chuckled and leaned over to kiss the top of her head. “If not for that, then why else?”

“I couldn’t begin to guess.” She flashed him a smile before stepping around him to take the sword from Sorey’s hands. He let it go without an argument, which could only mean that he had really tired himself out. Selene passed the sword over to Mikleo, quick to reach out to grab Sorey’s hand. It wasn’t as strange as it has been before, even if it did make her feel a bit like a child. Then again, she could be forgiven, she hadn’t gotten to do this when she was a child.

She tugged on his hand, turning to start leading him away from the house. Sorey was slow to follow her, Selene watching as he stumbled a few steps before straightening up. Even then he seemed reluctant, turning back to look at Mikleo. “Beloved?”

“Go on.” Mikleo waved them both away with his free hand. “I’ll just put this back and finally get some things done around the house.”

Mikleo repeated the shooing gesture, that enough to get Sorey moving. Selene kept her hold on his hand, looking back over her shoulder to watch as Mikleo walked back to the house, noting the waddle that he was starting to develop. Selene bit her lip before turning around.

It was still a while until Mikleo’s due date, but she wanted to be around for it. Maybe Ingrid could be convinced to stay in the area when the time came. But that was something that would have to be decided later. She didn’t want to spent too much time focusing on the future when she had this to concentrate on.

She let go of Sorey’s hand, setting out in the direction of the town. She was aware of Sorey looking back over his shoulder every once and a while, Selene letting him do it for a moment before stepping close to him. “He’s probably just going to nap.”

“Nap?”

Selene nodded. “It helps. It takes energy, and sometimes sleeping and eating help.”

Sorey sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t want to push him. It was bad enough last time.”

Selene was quiet for a moment before, staring at the road that they were walking down before turning her attention back over to Sorey. “What did happen last time? Dad never told me.”

“I’m not surprised. It wasn’t the best time.”

Selene bit her lip, looking up at him hopefully. Sorey glanced at her before sighing. “We didn’t know what we were doing, so we were just running.”

It sounded like what Mikleo had told her, but there was a weight behind her words, and suddenly Selene didn’t want to know. 

Mikleo had been open enough about the time before she had been born, but her aunts had been the better two to direct her questions toward. Now that she was older she realized that they both had been carefully toeing the same line Mikleo had made. But she had always been able to wheedle a little more out of them. Natalie had been the one to point out the evils of the emperor and the empire, which Selene had been more than ready to accept. After all, that’s what everyone else had said. Melody had been the one to offer more, but nothing like this.

Then again, Selene doubted that her aunts knew Sorey at all. Not really.

Selene nodded slowly. “Dad told me as much. I think he left a lot of stuff out though, mostly because he forgot. It was never about you though.”

She glanced over at the side, watching as Sorey slowed down to look around. Selene slowed with him, looking around. She didn’t see anything but the open fields that surrounded their house and the road that they were on. There were a few uneven mounds where there would have been houses, but Selene didn’t remember much about them. They had been things that she had been warned away from because they weren’t safe, and then used to help build their house and the town.

She stepped around Sorey to look on the other side of him, spotting the fenced off area. It looked like Mikleo had been hard at work at the gravesite because the fence looked like it was newly painted and the area was mostly clear of weeds.

Selene turned as she heard Sorey step up beside her, watching as he studied the fence. She’d seen him in her father’s artifact room and the Mabinogio Ruin, and it was only in the former that she had seen the spark that Mikleo had talked about.

She smiled and grabbed his arm to tug him in the direction of the fence. “We didn’t come back this way from Ladylake, so you missed this.”

Sorey kept pace with her, Selene relieved that he looked focused instead of bored. Mikleo had told her so much about the boy he had known, the one who had loved history, but she hadn’t seen him. Selene had thought that there was a chance that they had nothing in common, but here was something.

Sorey moved away as he got closer, leaning against the fence to look at the plaque on the stone that was on the other end. Selene came to lean with him, staring at the sign.

_In memory of the people in Camlann, killed in a brutal massacre and laid to rest here with great respect by a loyal friend and blessed by Shepherd Michael._

_Reinterred and rededicated by Prime Lord Lailah and Great Lord Mikleo._

_May they rest in peace and in the protection of the seraphim._

Mikleo said it was a copy of the original, because stone would last longer than wood. Selene hummed to herself, looking down at the flowers that were blooming. She leaned over to brush her fingers over the petal of one. She could feel a certain type of contentment, or something close enough that she associated with plants. Selene stroked the edge of the petal before looking back over at Sorey. “I remember Dad working on this. It took him all summer, and Lailah came up for the end. There was another sign, but we only had a bit of it. There was supposed to be something with the names, but we never found that.”

“It probably rotted away. It wasn’t here when we ran across it.” Sorey sighed, leaning heavily on the fence. “I’m glad someone took care of it. The last time there were bones sticking out of the ground.”

Selene nodded. “It was like that before. I remember finding a skull and running screaming back to Dad. He gave me the talk about humans and seraphim then. I think that’s what did it. He was always cleaning up the cairns at the top of the mountain, I think it just spurred him into action.” She tipped her head to the side. “That’s when he started taking me to see more things, when I wasn’t in school.”

“School?”

Selene gestured back towards the village. “When that was still just a few houses. It was a tiny one-room thing, but I loved it. I got to be with humans. They’re lives were so colorful, at least compared to what I was used to.”

Sorey chuckled. “I envy you.”

“But, you were human.”

“Yes, but I was a prince.” Sorey turned to look at her, his gaze sometimes flicking up towards the town. “I had tutors and servants. When I was older I had the Platinum Knights, but before that, I was left alone. I wasn’t important enough for too much effort.”

“That sounds sad, and lonely.”

“I don’t think I noticed.” Sorey rubbed the back of his neck. “I loved studying and my sword lessons. When I wasn’t doing that I was reading every book I could about anything to do with history or the ruins. Or Shepherds. I didn’t realize that there was anything to miss until later.”

Sorey shrugged, settling down further against the fence.

Selene watched him closely, letting them stand in silence for a moment before reaching out to grab onto his arm and pull. Sorey turned to look at her, Selene unable to keep herself from smiling. “Come on, I want to show you the town. Dad is going to be sleeping for a while. And if not, it’s about time that he did something with that artifact room instead of leaving it to us.”

Sorey stepped away from the fence, hesitant and first before speeding up. Selene was quick to loop her arm through his, holding him tight as they headed towards the town.


	6. Chapter 6

“I think we deserve  
a soft epilogue, my love.  
We are good people  
and we’ve suffered enough.“  
– Seventy Years of Sleep # 4. nikka ursula (n.t)

* * *

Mikleo tugged the old jacket around him, shivering slightly. He wasn’t usually affected by the temperature unless he let himself be. Then again, all the usual rules were out. He looked down at his stomach, stroking a hand over it. He couldn’t quite remember the specifics of the last one, most of it had been lost to running or a haze of grief and rage. He might have felt the cold and the heat, but Mikleo doubted that he would have done anything about it.

He swallowed, turning his head to nuzzle into the collar of the coat. Mikleo closed his eyes, relaxing at the scent of old books. Sorey wouldn’t be missing the jacket, at least for a long while. He was still fast asleep in their bed, despite all protests that he wasn’t tired.

Mikleo smiled to himself, turning to look back over his shoulder. Sorey was back in their room, probably curled up and none the wiser that Mikleo had slipped out. It was only right considering all the training and the fuss when Selene’s Shepherd had come into town.

He took a few steps forward, glancing into the main room of the house before tilting his head to the side to look up the staircase. He had expected at least one of the seraphim to be up, most likely Selene.

Shepherd Ingrid had not looked well. She hadn’t looked as bad as when the Lord of Calamity had clawed her leg open, but she still looked shaky. With that in mind, it was no wonder that the seraphim had kept hovering. Then again, all of her exhaustion might just be because of her long travels. A few days of rest might get her back on her feet. If not, then he might have to talk to Selene and the others.

Mikleo flexed his fingers. He couldn’t do any healing, but he might be able to convince Sorey to help. Mikleo stared down at his hand, quickly shoving it in the pocket of the coat when he felt the urge to try. After all, he had been using his artes late into his first pregnancy, and Selene was fine. But Selene might have been just luck, Mikleo couldn’t be sure.

Almost as if his thoughts had been heard, the baby kicked, Mikleo reaching down to touch his stomach. They didn’t calm down with his touch, Mikleo wincing and starting to move. The kicking had been what had driven him from a very good night’s sleep. It felt like the baby was going to keep it up for a while, which was all the excuse that he needed to keep moving.

He yawned and shuffled across the room, trying to keep as quiet as possible. The house meant a roof over his head and protection, but there was something good about the top of the mountain. For once, he wouldn’t have to worry about waking anyone up when he wasn’t allowed to rest. Mikleo cast a rueful glance back at the rooms that held his library and the artifact room.

There was plenty of work to be done there, except that he didn’t think that he would be allowed to sit still long enough for him to do any work. Sitting down and standing up were also getting more difficult, and he would need to do it frequently if he wanted to continue his work. That left him tired, annoyed and drifting through the house with nothing better to do.

Mikleo rolled his eyes and headed for the front porch. He eased the front door open carefully, guiding it shut instead of letting it swing shut. The whole house was asleep and he didn’t feel like startling them all awake. There was the Shepherd and her seraphim to consider. Mikleo was sure that they were wired to react to danger before really thinking, and he didn’t want artes flying wildly.

He tugged the coat more securely around him as he ventured down the steps and out into the yard. Selene’s garden wasn’t in full bloom, not yet, but he could see buds. Mikleo was sure that she would be out in it soon enough, puttering around as she tried not to hover. Mikleo knew his daughter well enough to see the signs of his brand of restlessness. As long as they were working on something, they didn’t have to think about what was bothering them. At least Selene had the sense to do something reasonable safe. His own preferred method had been practicing his artes until they had stopped completely.

Mikleo winced at the memory, shaking his head. He had been young and stupid, at least that’s what Natalie insisted that he had been. Mikleo counted it a blessing that she hadn’t come to talk to him about this, although he doubted that she hadn’t heard. It would have been quite a spectacle and enough gossip to keep the seraphim going for decades. First, a great gathering of seraphim and then the sudden appearance of a solution to all of their problems. Sorey’s name would have spread quickly, because they all remembered him, if not fondly then at least with some kind of thankfulness.

He sighed, tipping his head back to look at the stars. Mikleo traced out the constellations, quickly running out of the ones that he knew and resorting to making up shapes. Sorey had showed him once, but the stars hadn’t been important, it had been the moment, one of the few that they hadn’t been running.

Mikleo turned his head to nuzzle into the coat again, pausing when he heard the door open. He frowned and turned around, prepared for one of the Sub Lords or a tearful Selene. His breath caught when he saw Sorey standing on the porch, his hair mussed and tangled from sleep. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, one of the quilts that Shepherd Ingrid had made during her recovery and had gifted to them. The sight was enough to make his heart flutter, like he was eighteen again.

He turned, watching as Sorey stumbled down into the garden, Sorey looking still half asleep. Mikleo opened his arms for him, smiling when Sorey shuffled into his arms, nuzzling into Mikleo’s neck. Mikleo tipped his head to the side to give Sorey more access, content with holding him.

It took Sorey a moment to speak, Sorey seeming to mouth the words against his neck before he managed to speak, his voice rough with sleep. “You awake now?”

“Not by choice.” Mikleo winced as the baby kicked against. He felt Sorey shift again, Mikleo quick to nudge one of Sorey’s hands to his stomach.

Sorey was quick to jerk his hand back, Mikleo watching as Sorey inched back. “Sorry.”

Mikleo blinked at him before understanding came, and he wanted to kick his younger self. The demand not to touch his stomach had been reasonable back then, but the vehemence hadn’t been needed, not when Sorey was still shying away with it. Mikleo sighed and held out his hand. “It’s alright. You can touch.”

Sorey looked at him with wide eyes, Mikleo halfway expecting him to just reach out. Instead, Sorey gently placed his hand on Mikleo’s and waited. Mikleo smiled at the gesture, taking the time to brush his thumb against Sorey’s wrist before guiding Sorey’s hand. Of course, the baby decided to start kicking on the other side, but Sorey seemed delighted nonetheless.

Sorey smiled wide, stepping closer. Mikleo saw his other arm move, but Sorey kept his gentle, one-handed touch. “Hello, little one. Are you being a bother?”

“Yes.” Mikleo rolled his eyes. “And they’ll continue to be.”

“Sorry.”

Mikleo reached out to sink his fingers into Sorey’s hair. “Stop. If I didn’t want this, then I could have done something about it. The annoyance is something I anticipated.”

It wasn’t technically a truth or a lie. Centuries had dulled his memory of things, and Mikleo wasn’t about to call his first pregnancy normal. Still, that was nothing that Sorey had to know. It was far beyond what he could help.

Sorey’s hand went from resting to stroking over his stomach. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Stay up?” Mikleo shrugged. “I technically don’t need the sleep.”

“But it helps.”

“Greatly.” Mikleo sighed and leaned into Sorey. He slumped when Sorey wrapped them both in the quilt, loving the warmth. The weather wasn’t so cold, but the warmth was very welcome, especially with Sorey so close. “What about you?”

“I can’t sleep without you there. I’m afraid of waking up and…” Sorey trailed off for a moment, Mikleo frowning. He didn’t get the chance to move before Sorey was talking again, but it sounded like Sorey was having to think carefully through his words. “I…I don’t know. I don’t remember being dead. But sometimes I’m sure I’m going to wake up into being that again, whatever it was.”

Mikleo squeezed him tight, hoping that it was enough, because he didn’t know what to say. He only knew the other side of that kind of dream. Dreaming of Sorey, alive and well, and then waking up to an empty bed. The only thing he could do was kiss the top of Sorey’s head. “I’m here.”

“So am I.” Sorey pulled back enough to rub their noses together. Mikleo relaxed, some of the fear that had been growing in his chest leaking away. He smiled as Sorey pushed his bangs back, Sorey’s palm resting against his forehead.

It was just as calloused as he remembered.

He was leaning into it when Sorey shifted, dropping his hand away to cradle Mikleo from behind. It was just as agreeable, or maybe he just wanted to be held. Mikleo leaned back into Sorey, tipping his head to the side in an invitation, one Sorey eagerly accepted.

Mikleo shivered at the hint of teeth he felt, reaching back and cradling Sorey’s head. Sorey paused for a moment, Mikleo finding himself holding his breath until the soft nibbles started up towards his ear.

Mikleo released his breath in a rush, his fingers curling into Sorey’s hair. “Still interested?”

Sorey paused, Mikleo feeling him hum against his neck. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t be.”

“You haven’t heard me start complaining.”

“We’ve been through worse. Complaining is fine.” Sorey’s hands dropped to sweep over his stomach. “I think you deserve it, all things considered.”

“I’m glad you think so. I just hope you remember that when the news gets around to Natalie and Melody.”

Sorey paused, moving to rest his chin on Mikleo’s shoulder, even though he had to rock up onto his toes to do it. “You don’t want your sisters here?”

Mikleo bit his lip, glancing at the gate into the garden before sighing. “I do. Melody is better adjusted to the idea of you. Or she trusts me enough to make my own decisions. Natalie seems to think I’m still eighteen.”

Sorey tipped his head to the side with a chuckle. “That’s progress. The last time it was ten.”

Mikleo grumbled, but he didn’t put any real feeling into it. “She won’t be happy. Don’t leave me alone when she comes.”

“Never, beloved. We face things together, right?”

Mikleo reached down to rest his hand on Sorey’s. “Right. Although you might regret that promise.”

Sorey hummed. “I don’t think I will. I don’t regret any of this.”

Mikleo squeezed Sorey’s hand, smiling to himself. “No. Neither do I.”


	7. Chapter 7

“If we lay a strong enough foundation  
We’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you  
And you’ll blow us all away”  
\- _Dear Theodosia_, Hamilton

* * *

Sorey froze in the middle of a downswing at the sound of crying. He turned, almost absently moving his sword to block Ingrid’s swing as he looked for the source.

He didn’t have to look far to find Selene holding her little sister almost at arm’s length with an alarmed look on her face. Selene glanced around before hurrying over him him.

Sorey was already sheathing his sword, vaguely waving off Ingrid’s apology. He reached out as Selene passed the baby over to him, Selene quick to step into the place that he vacated. “Trade you.”

Sorey smiled, gently bouncing the baby. “You don’t want more quality time with your sister?”

“Not when she’s crying.” Selene wrinkled her nose. “I was just trying to give Dad a few moments to rest, but she apparently has other ideas.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Sorey leaned in to kiss Selene’s cheek. He pulled away, catching the look of surprise on Selene’s face before it was transformed into a smile.

“Thanks, Papa.”

“Go easy on your Shepherd.”

“I’ll try.” Selene laughed and turned to face Ingrid, Sorey lingering long enough to see them squaring up.

He couldn’t help but take a different look, purposefully ignoring the familiar pulse of Selene’s presence to look at Ingrid. She was healing well, although there was still some stiffness in her leg, but that was getting better the more she used it. She might be able to do more that putter around the Kyfle-on-the-Mountain area, which meant it might be getting closer to the time for him to start making new Shepherds.

Sorey bit his lip, glad to be distracted when the baby in his arms wailed again. He turned his attention back to her, bouncing her as he walked back towards the house. “Sh, Muse. You’re alright. Yeah? So, what’s the fuss about?”

He didn’t get an answer, not that Sorey expected one. Muse just flailed her arms, clearly upset about something. Sorey sighed and shifted his hold on her, resting her partially against his shoulder.

Mikleo was better at this than he was, although that had come with practice. He’d raised Selene mostly on his own, so he at least knew what to look for. Sorey just tended to see a crying baby and knew he had to do something. He was willing to learn, but the problem was that Mikleo seemed to just want to sleep, not that Sorey blamed him. Mikleo had done all the work, Sorey had just stood by and let his hand be crushed. It seemed to be the least he could do.

Sorey nudged the door open with his foot, executing a complicated maneuver to keep it open long enough for him to slide through without disturbing Muse more. It just seemed like she used it as an excuse to cry louder, Sorey wincing at the sound so close to his ear.

Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something move, Sorey catching sight of a skirt as a seraph ducked around a corner. That they didn’t immediately rush over meant that it was one of Ingrid’s Sub-Lords. None of them seemed to know what to do with a baby, but they were all young. Or so Mikleo said. Sorey wasn’t sure if it counted considering that they were all older than him.

He switched Muse to his other shoulder, settling into a gentle, rolling walk that seemed to work the best when trying to calm Muse. He was relieved when it partially worked, her sobbing lowering in volume. Sorey was willing to count that as a success, especially considering what she had been doing before. He was tempted to make a slow circle of the main room, but he didn’t want to chance Muse renewing her complaint. Sorey gave the room one last glance before making his way back to their room.

Muse might have been distressed, but she must have at least recognized where they were going because her crying subsided into soft whimpers. If the threat of more hadn’t been in her voice, Sorey would have turned around.

He slowed when he reached their room, peering in to see how Mikleo was. He smiled when he saw Mikleo lying in their bed, obviously awake and watching the door.

Sorey gave up on stealth, slipping in the door and making his way towards the bed. He swallowed when he saw Mikleo’s gaze get focused, a distinct scent reaching his nose. Sorey huffed and shook his head. “Really?”

Mikleo blushed, pushing himself up. He turned to fluff the pillows, Sorey taking that as permission to move to his side of the bed and slide in. He paused halfway through sitting back when Muse’s whimpers started getting loud again. He patted her back, nuzzling into her hair. She didn’t really have a scent yet, just the milky one of a baby. Sorey rubbed his cheek against the top of her head anyway, wanting something there to mark her.

He glanced at Mikleo out of the corner of his eye, smiling at the dazed look on his face. He pressed a kiss to the top of Muse’s head before passing her over, Mikleo taking her easily.

Muse fussed against him for a moment before settling down, Sorey raising an eyebrow at his daughter. “That’s all she needed?”

“Maybe. She might change her mind.” Mikleo settled back, leaning into Sorey. “Until then we relax.”

“How long will that be?”

Mikleo sighed. “Five minutes?”

Sorey winced, looking down at Muse. “Was Selene any better?”

“She had her days. You missed the joys of her deciding that she didn’t want to sleep. I must have paced a hole in the main room.”

“You’ve repaired it well.”

Mikleo snorted, quickly clamping down on his laughter as Muse shifted. Sorey held his breath, watching as Muse twisted slightly in Mikleo’s hold. The new position seemed to be more agreeable, Sorey letting out his breath as Muse settled again. He watched her closely for a moment more before raising his gaze to meet Mikleo’s. “Is this anything like how Selene was?”

“Yes, and no. I’ve been told they’re all different.” Mikleo paused, a smile crossing his face. “I’m just hoping that we don’t get an unholy terror. Although, the two of us might be enough to keep her in check.”

Sorey eyed Muse, searching for the sign of something to come, but Muse seemed to be concentrating on something far beyond his shoulder. Aside from her tantrum earlier, she seemed to be fine. “How can you tell?”

“I’ve been told you can’t.”

“And you wanted another one?”

Mikleo at least had the grace to blush, reaching out to shove at Sorey. “Not in the moment but…yes. And you carrying her isn’t helping.”

Sorey blinked, processing what Mikleo had said before turning to face him.

Mikleo was quick to look away, almost completely turning away. Sorey would have worried more, if Mikleo wasn’t blushing so bright red. It made him smile, Sorey wanting to nuzzle against Mikleo’s neck and chase the blush, but that would lead to dangerous distractions, especially while Mikleo was still holding Muse.

“Mikleo~”

“Don’t…rub it in.” Mikleo glanced over his shoulder, lifting his chin slightly. “The babies are just cute. Y-you’re just good at that.”

“Good enough to want more?”

Mikleo’s response was a mumble, Sorey not bothering to try and catch it. He just laughed and scooted closer to press his forehead against Mikleo’s shoulder. Mikleo tensed for a moment before he huffed, Sorey feeling him relax.

Sorey stayed here for a moment before resting his chin on Mikleo’s shoulder, looking down at Muse. She was happily smacking her lips, content with where she was. Then again, their five minutes wasn’t up yet.

He tipped his head to the side, watching as Muse’s gaze locked onto him before sliding away again. Sorey smiled at her all the same. “She is cute.”

“It just proves my point.”

“Of course.” Sorey turned his head to kiss Mikleo’s cheek, wrapping an arm around Mikleo’s stomach when Mikleo didn’t scoot away. “So you want more?”

“Maybe? Not right now. Let’s try to get her into her element before we think about that.”

“Is it hard?”

“It’s…trying.”

“Noted.” Sorey sighed, his gaze sliding to Mikleo when Mikleo cleared his throat.

It took the seraph a moment to speak, Mikleo seeming to struggle over the words before his blush deepened. “If…if we are really considering more, I-I think it would be good to have a a water seraph. It would be a good stopping point, at least.”

Sorey considered the idea. According to what he had heard, coming into an element was a random thing. But, to his knowledge, there were four elements, which meant that the chances were high that Muse could be a water seraph, or the one after that. It couldn’t be that hard, and he’d have plenty of practice raising Muse.

He shifted slightly so he could lean forward and kiss Mikleo’s cheek. “Water seraph it is then. After all, how hard could it be?”

Mikleo huffed, but the sound was fond. He tipped his head to the side to rest against Sorey, Sorey more than happy to remain where he was. It was comfortable to have Mikleo in his arms and Muse content, at least for the next little while. It was a little bubble of calm, and Sorey was more than happy to enjoy it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all folks. This time for real. 
> 
> Thank you for sticking with this story for so long and for all of your lovely comments on it.


End file.
